FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Aixtron shares continued their recent recovery ahead of schedule on Friday. On the Tradegate trading platform, the shares of the semiconductor industry equipment manufacturer gained 4.7 percent to 19.75 euros compared to the Xetra closing price of the previous day. However, with a price loss of more than 50 percent in the current year, they are still among the weakest stocks in the MDax.

After a weak quarter, Aixtron lowered its sales and margin targets for the current year. However, there is hope in the order intake, which stabilized compared to the previous year after a weak start to the year. In an initial reaction this morning, one trader described the order situation as strong and pointed to solid momentum in production systems based on gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC).

Barclays analyst Simon Coles emphasized that the semiconductor equipment manufacturer's strong order intake largely relates to the coming year, but should strengthen confidence in a growth spurt. However, market expectations for 2025 are ambitious, he added.