OHB Hands RFA Reins to Dahm as Satellite Wins and Analyst Upgrades Converge

Alexander Dahm takes over Rocket Factory Augsburg as OHB shares gain 48% this year; analysts see more upside ahead of November results.

Alexander Dahm has taken over as chief executive of Rocket Factory Augsburg, the small-launcher venture in which Bremen-based OHB SE holds a stake. He succeeds Indulis Kalnins and will steer the unit's development as well as its path toward the maiden flight of the RFA ONE microrocket. The handover, confirmed at the start of the week, marks the shift from design work into the operational run-up to that first launch — a capability Europe's space industry regards as a strategic gap worth closing.

Shares in the parent group finished Monday's session at EUR 172.60, up 0.5 percent on the day. That single-day move sits inside a far larger run: since the start of the year the stock has added 48 percent, even after a recent pullback that some market watchers read as an opening rather than a warning.

Two Orbits, One Week

While the launcher business changes hands at the top, other corners of the group were busy delivering hardware. On Friday, the small satellite ATHENE-1 reached low Earth orbit as planned. Built by Luxembourg subsidiary LuxSpace together with the University of the Bundeswehr Munich, the technology platform rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 under the Transporter-18 rideshare mission and carries 22 scientific experiments.

A day earlier, OHB Italia closed out an Earth-observation fleet. The third and final batch of eight satellites launched from Vandenberg — again on a SpaceX rideshare — completing the Eaglet-II constellation. That network forms part of IRIDE, the Italian Earth-observation programme, and now stands fully deployed with 24 units in orbit for the Italian space agency ASI. Taken together, the two missions underscore the group's ability to deliver institutional satellite programmes on schedule, a track record that matters as defense-related applications take on growing weight alongside classic Earth observation.

ESA Studies and a Saab Handshake

Further out on the horizon, the European Space Agency picked consortia led by Airbus and OHB on 30 September for parallel feasibility studies into a possible European outpost in low Earth orbit. Press coverage suggests such concept awards strengthen the group's position for the large-scale projects that could follow. Roughly a fortnight ago, OHB Sweden also signed a letter of intent with Saab covering space-based defense capabilities, and the parent company rejoined the TecDAX around the same period.

Berenberg and Deutsche Bank Both See Room

Analysts have been recalibrating upward. Berenberg's Michael Filatov reaffirmed a buy rating on 29 September with a price target of EUR 358, pointing to management comments that flagged another strong order year ahead. Deutsche Bank Research had moved earlier, confirming its buy call on 25 September and lifting its target to EUR 300 from EUR 275. Citing dpa-AFX, the analysts attributed the revision to growth momentum the market has underappreciated, plus substantial medium-term order potential, and described the preceding share-price weakness as a favorable re-entry point. The tone reflects broader appetite for European space and defense names, where demand for satellite-based infrastructure and security solutions keeps project pipelines well filled.

Guidance Intact Ahead of November Print

Management's full-year 2026 targets remain unchanged: total output of EUR 1.400 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.5 to 11.0 percent. On the shareholder register, the founding Fuchs family still holds a majority, while financial investor KKR has been a minority holder since 2023 through Orchid Lux HoldCo. Following a placement of existing shares, KKR's stake stood at roughly 20 percent as of the half-year report dated 6 August. Hard numbers on how the third quarter actually went arrive on 12 November, when OHB publishes results for the first nine months.