RBC upgrades Sartorius on improving growth outlook, AI-driven research demand

RBC Capital Markets on Friday upgraded German-listedSartorius AG (F:SATG) to "outperform" from "sector perform" and raised its price target on the preference shares to €330 from €220, citing improved guidance and track record over the last few quarters.

The target for the ordinary shares is €265. Sartorius preference shares were priced at €273.60 at the prior close, for a market value of €18.89 billion.

RBC also raised its target for bioprocessing tools company Sartorius Stedim Biotech, which is 71.5% owned by Sartorius, to €275 from €210 and kept its "Outperform" rating.

RBC said currency has turned into a tailwind, underlying growth should accelerate in 2027, and the AI and onshoring themes are likely to run. 

Sartorius is seeing some demand uplift from AI-enabled customer workflows in biopharma and academia, though not yet from AI companies.

RBC now forecasts 2026 sales of €3.75 billion versus €3.72 billion previously, and 2027 sales of €4.22 billion versus €4.19 billion. 

Currency adds about 1% to its sales forecast. It expects 2027 sales growth, excluding currency effects, of 11.5% versus 10.5% before.

It raised its forecasts for the lab products division by about 3%, citing business momentum, with 2026 guidance nudged up, and possible modest acceleration from AI-driven research investments. Forecast 2027 underlying earnings per preference share is €6.60 versus €6.54 before.

RBC values Sartorius by adding its Stedim stake, valued at 22 times estimated 2028 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, to the lab business at 16 times the same measure, then deducting €1.5 billion of extra group debt. 

That gives €295 a share, adjusted for a 25% liquidity premium on the preference shares to reach €330.

Risks include share price swings, which have averaged about 8% on each of the last four results days. Timing of a recovery in equipment demand is hard to predict because customers are using existing capacity before expanding. 

35% of revenue comes from the Americas and 23% from Asia-Pacific, so a stronger euro would hurt revenue and margins. U.S. and retaliatory tariffs may squeeze margins, though price rises could speed near-term revenue growth.