Voestalpine's Hydrogen Bet and Electric Furnace Rollout Set the Stage for November Results

Voestalpine will report Q2 fiscal 2026/27 results on 11 November 2026, after UBS upgraded the stock to Buy and raised its price target to EUR 64.00.

Voestalpine has picked 11 November 2026 as the date for its second-quarter report for fiscal 2026/27, giving investors their next hard look at how the Austrian steelmaker's transformation is feeding through to earnings. The announcement lands after a stretch of strategic repositioning that has left the market watching two things at once: whether transformation spending is staying inside the guardrails management set out, and what signals the group sends on demand across its core European segments.

The stock changed hands at EUR 44.76 on the day of the primary report, up 1.9%, while the secondary source recorded a close of EUR 43.94 the previous Tuesday. Both readings sit well above where the shares started the year. The primary source puts the year-to-date advance at 19%, the secondary at 16% — the difference reflecting the two snapshot dates rather than any divergence in the underlying trend. What the gains really capture, according to both accounts, is investor appetite for the longer-term story: the shift toward lower-emission steelmaking.

UBS Turns Bullish

That story got a fresh push from the banking sector. UBS upgraded the stock to "Buy" from "Neutral" on 9 October, according to media reports, and lifted its price target sharply to EUR 64.00 from EUR 49.00. Analyst Andrew Jones framed the call around planned European Union safeguard measures, which in his view could cut imports into the bloc by roughly 9 million tonnes. Domestic supply would struggle to cover even half of that shortfall, the UBS team argues, setting up a tighter market.

The bank's earnings model reflects that view. UBS projects earnings per share of EUR 3.49 for fiscal 2026/27, rising to EUR 5.42 in fiscal 2027/28.

Hydrogen Pilot Expands in Linz

On the industrial side, Voestalpine and utility partner Verbund began operating the expanded H2FUTURE hydrogen pilot plant in Linz on 2 October. The build-out added a compression and purification unit along with five hydrogen storage tanks, at a cost of EUR 16.4 million. The project's focus now extends beyond production to the handling and storage steps that any larger-scale hydrogen operation would require.

A new power plant block is also planned, designed to generate electricity from steam captured at the new electric arc furnace. The two moves fit together as part of a broader effort to reshape the group's energy footprint.

Donawitz Furnace Nears Start-Up

The centrepiece of the production overhaul sits in Donawitz, where assembly of the electric arc furnace is largely complete and cold commissioning has begun in selected areas. Voestalpine aims to switch part of its steelmaking there to electric processes in the first half of 2027. At full operation, the unit is expected to turn out around 850,000 tonnes of CO2-reduced steel a year.

The company is simultaneously deepening research into alternative technologies, keeping its options open as the electrification programme advances.

Insider Transaction and the Road Ahead

A smaller item surfaced at the start of the month: supervisory board member Gerhard Scheidreiter sold 441 shares on 2 October in an off-exchange transaction tied to an employee share programme.

None of that will matter as much to the share price as the operating figures due in a few weeks. When Voestalpine publishes its second-quarter results on 11 November 2026, the numbers will show how well margins are holding up against a backdrop of heavy investment and a European steel market in flux.