UBS upgrades Belimo as data centre pipeline outpaces share price expectations

 UBS raised Swiss actuator maker Belimo to “buy” from “neutral” and lifted its price target to CHF900 from CHF827, saying new data point to a bigger data center construction pipeline than the company’s share price reflects, sending shares up over 3% on Friday.

Belimo shares closed at CHF738.50 on Oct 22. The new target implies 22% upside.

UBS Evidence Lab data show plans for about 231 gigawatts of new data center capacity over the medium term, up from 160 gigawatts earlier this year. About 45 gigawatts is under construction, versus around 40 gigawatts earlier this year.

UBS raised its data center sales forecasts and now expects Belimo’s organic sales to grow about 12% a year on average from 2026 to 2030. 

Data center demand accounted for around 23-24% of first-half 2026 sales, UBS estimates, and that business is forecast to grow around 21% a year, while the rest is forecast to grow close to 9% a year.

UBS expects Belimo’s adjusted operating profit margin to reach 25.6% by 2030, versus 20.9% in 2025, as higher sales spread costs and data center products earn higher margins than its construction-related business.

It raised its 2027 and 2028 earnings-per-share forecasts by 10% and 8% to CHF25.56 and CHF29.38, which it said are around 10-11% above consensus.

Belimo’s enterprise value is 24.4 times UBS’s 2027 operating profit estimate. That is broadly in line with its 15-year average and at the lower end of its five-year range.

UBS flagged uncertainty over how data center investments will be financed. If 50, 100 or 150 gigawatts less capacity is built in 2028-2030, it said, organic sales growth would be about 11%, 9% or 7% a year and the 2030 margin about 25%, 23% or 21%.

Its bull-case value is CHF1,325 and its bear-case value CHF596 versus the Oct 22 close.