Evotec’s Second Profit Warning in Four Months Sends Shares Tumbling to New 52-Week Low

Evotec slashes 2026 revenue and EBITDA outlook, sending shares to new lows. Restructuring plan targets €75M in annual savings by 2027.

Evotec has rattled investors once again with a fresh profit warning that cuts its 2026 revenue and earnings outlook far more sharply than the market anticipated. Shares of the Hamburg-based drug developer slid around 8.6 percent on Tuesday to €3.80, touching a new 52-week trough of €3.176 earlier in the session. The stock has now lost nearly 25 percent over the past five trading days and roughly half its value over the past twelve months.

The latest downgrade comes just four months after the company’s previous profit warning, a pattern that Deutsche Bank analyst Fynn Scherzler described as alarming. “The size of the correction caught me off guard,” Scherzler said, adding that Evotec remains overly reliant on a handful of large partnerships. His comments echo those of RBC’s Charles Weston, who called the new forecast “another material profit warning.” Still, RBC maintained its “Outperform” rating with a €10 price target, while Deutsche Bank did not issue a new target in the secondary article.

Evotec now expects 2026 revenue in a range of €570 million to €610 million, down sharply from the earlier projection of €700 million to €780 million. The adjusted EBITDA outlook has swung from a profit of up to €40 million to a loss of between €70 million and €105 million. Management broke down the revenue shortfall into three components: roughly 40 percent stems from delayed milestone payments that now shift to 2027, 45 percent reflects weaker contributions from new strategic partnerships, and the remaining 15 percent comes from lower-than-expected revenue recognition. Currency headwinds from a weaker US dollar and British pound added around €13 million in costs during the first half.

The first-half results released alongside the warning underscore the severity of the downturn. Group revenue came in at €300.1 million, compared with €371.1 million a year earlier, while the adjusted EBITDA loss ballooned from just €1.9 million to €42.7 million. The company stressed that the underlying business has not been lost but that partner milestones have shifted later into 2027.

To counter the crisis, Evotec is pressing ahead with its “Horizon” restructuring program. The initiative aims to cut annual costs by €75 million by the end of 2027, with roughly one-fifth to one-third of those savings expected to materialise as early as 2026. The plan involves slimming the project portfolio, reducing the number of sites to ten, and concentrating key capabilities in so-called Centers of Excellence. Up to 800 positions are set to be eliminated. In addition, the company launched its J.TRAIN manufacturing technology in June, though management cautioned that meaningful contract wins from it are unlikely before 2026.

Despite the grim outlook, technical indicators suggest the sell-off may have been overdone. The relative strength index stands at around 24.6, deep in oversold territory. The stock now trades nearly 30 percent below its 200-day moving average of €5.43, a gap that reflects the erosion of investor confidence. The 52-week high of €7.75, reached last November, now seems distant.

Investors will get a fuller picture on August 13, when Evotec publishes its complete second-quarter and first-half 2026 results. Until then, the stock remains caught between a battered sentiment and a restructuring plan that will take time to deliver tangible results.