Lufthansa Stock Trades Above Barclays Target After Broker Upgrade

Lufthansa shares were changing hands at €8.84 on Friday, up 1.2% on the day, after Barclays lifted its rating on the German carrier from "Underweight" to "Equal Weight" and raised its price target from €7.50 to €8.40. The stock has now climbed past that new target, as well as the €7.53 six-month target held by AlphaValue.

The French research house did not join the upgrade trend. AlphaValue raised its 2027 earnings-per-share estimate for Lufthansa from €0.77 to €0.95 but kept its sell recommendation in place. Bernstein Research, meanwhile, lifted its target from €9.00 to €9.50 while reaffirming a "Market Perform" rating — a level that still sits above the current market price.

TAP Stake Awaits Brussels Sign-Off

Roughly a week ago, Lufthansa and the Portuguese government signed an agreement covering the acquisition of an initial 44.9% stake in TAP Air Portugal. The agreed purchase price is €1.02 billion, with completion subject to regulatory approvals, notably from the European Commission. The holding could rise to as much as 49.9% through the purchase of shares initially offered to employees, and a so-called ticking fee could push the total consideration to as high as €1.2 billion.

Fuel Bill Weighs on 2026 Guidance

Alongside its third-quarter results roughly a week ago, Lufthansa narrowed its forecast for adjusted EBIT in 2026 to a range of €1.7 billion to €2.0 billion, cutting the upper bound from €2.2 billion. Management pointed to higher fuel costs, with the expected kerosene bill rising to €9.3 billion — about €600 million more than three months earlier.

The quarterly figures themselves offered some comfort. Lufthansa posted revenue of €12.2 billion and adjusted EBIT of €1.41 billion in the third quarter of 2026, a result that Reuters reported came in slightly ahead of expectations. Over the January-to-September period, however, adjusted EBIT ran 20% below the prior-year level.

Boardroom Buying

On the insider front, supervisory board member Astrid Stange purchased Lufthansa shares worth a total of €153,759 on Thursday, according to a mandatory disclosure filed by the company.