OHB Wins €1 Billion in Contracts, Then Watches Its Stock Struggle to Catch Up

OHB shares rose 5.7% to EUR 179.60 after Deutsche Bank and Berenberg reiterated buy ratings, citing underestimated order potential.

Europe's defense architecture is quietly migrating into orbit. What once sounded like a distant scenario has become an operational necessity, driven by government funding programs and shifting geopolitical priorities. Secure connectivity and space-based reconnaissance are no longer niche concerns — they are strategic infrastructure. Yet the market's assessment of this shift has swung wildly between euphoria and sober disappointment for months.

Few stocks capture that disconnect as sharply as Bremen-based OHB. A speculative run in May pushed the shares to a 52-week high of EUR 688.00, followed by a heavy correction that dragged the stock down for months as the market lost sight of the company's operating fundamentals.

Order Book Fills While the Share Price Slips

Behind the falling quotes, the backlog kept growing. Last month, OHB locked in firm contracts worth more than EUR 1 billion in total, covering the European flagship programs IRIS² and PRISMA — two of eight planned key projects. Work on these ventures is already underway and is beginning to show up in revenue and earnings recognition.

How long can a market valuation ignore such substantial orders? Toward the end of the week, a countermove set in: the stock climbed 5.7% to EUR 179.60.

Two fresh analyst notes provided the tailwind. Sriram Krishnan of Deutsche Bank Research raised his price target from EUR 275 to EUR 300 after an investor roadshow and reaffirmed his buy rating. Krishnan argues the market systematically underestimates OHB's medium-term order potential and operating growth momentum, making the recent weakness an opportunity to re-enter. Chris Armstrong of Berenberg also reiterated his bullish stance with an unchanged EUR 358 target. For Armstrong, OHB ranks alongside Rheinmetall and Renk among his favorites in aerospace, space, and defense, supported by tangible fiscal policy impulses and rising export demand.

Saab Partnership Takes Shape

Additional strategic appeal comes from the security sector. OHB Sweden, the group's Swedish subsidiary, signed a letter of intent with defense company Saab, under which both partners will jointly explore how existing and future satellite systems can serve European security and defense policy.

The partnership centers on space-based situational awareness, secure communications, and resilient networking — applications designed to link military operations across air, land, sea, cyber, and space. Saab aims to position itself as a system integrator for comprehensive military solutions, bringing in not only OHB Sweden but also space company SSC Space and telecom operator Ericsson through similar letters of intent.

For OHB, the tie-up opens new prospects in a growing market. As geopolitical tensions mount, space is increasingly moving into focus as a strategic defense domain for European governments. No concrete financial volumes or fixed delivery dates have been set in the agreement, however — for now, it remains an exploration of joint technical and operational possibilities.

Scientific Progress Alongside Defense Ambitions

Beyond military prospects, the group reported headway in its scientific program. Subsidiary OHB Italia began the first integrated functional tests of the Ramses asteroid probe, part of a joint mission between the European Space Agency ESA and Japan's space agency JAXA. Ramses is scheduled to launch in spring 2028 aboard a Japanese H3 rocket, targeting the asteroid Apophis, which will pass relatively close to Earth in April 2029. Two smaller satellites will travel aboard the probe, one of which is to land on the asteroid's surface. Projects like this underscore the company's technological range, spanning deep-space science to space-based security applications.

The stock responded positively to the news, gaining after the previous day's close of EUR 170.00 and rising 3.4% to EUR 175.80. The move reflects growing investor interest in space companies that serve both civil space projects and defense applications. The founder family Fuchs retains majority control of the Bremen group, while financial investor KKR holds a minority stake. Whether the Saab cooperation yields binding large-scale orders now depends on further negotiations between the two sides.

The combination of government-commissioned programs and potential partnerships with established defense contractors is shifting how the company is perceived. Anyone measuring the space sector's prospects solely by past share price losses risks missing the fundamental revaluation happening in orbit.