LPKF Laser CEO Purchases Shares as Order Intake Climbs to €24.1 Million, Offsetting Weak First Quarter

CEO Klaus Fiedler invests €42,000 at €21/share as order intake rises to €24.1M, book-to-bill hits 1.4, offsetting a sharp Q1 revenue drop.

The optics could hardly be more contrasting. LPKF Laser’s chief executive has just put €42,000 of his own money into the company’s stock at €21 a share, a Directors’ Dealings filing from 20 May shows. That insider vote of confidence landed less than 24 hours after the stock had slipped below its 20-day moving average, reigniting debate about whether the recent rally still has legs.

Dr. Klaus Fiedler’s purchase on 19 May came at a moment when the market was digesting a first-quarter scorecard that revealed a sharp revenue contraction. Sales slid to €17.1 million from €25.3 million a year earlier, while EBIT landed at -€6.9 million (or -€5.7 million on an adjusted basis). The margin pain is real, but the order intake offers a counter-narrative: it rose to €24.1 million, pushing the book-to-bill ratio to 1.4—a level that suggests incoming business is starting to outpace the weak billing cycle.

That order momentum is being fed by demand in the Development and Electronics segments. Management attributed part of the pickup to delayed investment decisions following the US government shutdown, alongside steady inquiry from research, defence, and electronics prototyping. In the Electronics division, precise laser cutting systems for circuit boards saw particular traction.

From Nanochang to Orlando: a trade-show blitz

LPKF is betting that sustained visibility will convert even more of those leads into hard orders. The company is exhibiting the ProtoLaser H104 at the Higher Education Expo China in Nanchang from 22 to 24 May, targeting universities, research labs and industrial partners. The pitch is speed: LPKF’s systems promise a full cycle from design to multilayer prototype—up to eight layers—in a single day, covering structuring, drilling, via filling, and finishing.

The lineup of upcoming events is dense. After Nanchang comes the ECTC in Orlando (26–29 May), SPEXA in Japan (27–29 May), and the iTGV in Wuxi (28–29 May). Each event keeps the company in front of audiences where advanced packaging, glass substrates, and high-frequency materials are becoming critical. The ProtoLaser family, spanning UV to picosecond lasers, handles materials from FR4 and PTFE through to polyimide, ceramic, graphene, and ITO-coated glass—exactly the range that prototyping labs need to avoid external manufacturing loops.

A 267% rally under the microscope

The urgency to show operational progress is amplified by the stock’s trajectory. Year-to-date, LPKF shares have soared roughly 268%, and the 30-day gain stood at 42.68% as of Friday, when the price hit €22.90—up 3.15% on the day. On Thursday, before the CEO purchase became public, the stock closed at €22.10, meaning the insider buy added roughly 80 cents of support in a single session.

That kind of volatility, with annualised swings above 150%, keeps chart-watchers on edge. The brief dip under the 20-day line triggered caution, but the swift recovery has dulled the bearish signal. Still, the analyst community remains measured. Montega AG reiterated its “Hold” rating on 4 May, arguing that after such a dramatic run-up, little room remains for disappointment.

The next catalyst will be the half-year numbers

With no new financial targets or specific customer names attached to the China expo, the market is left to read tea leaves from conference attendance and order patterns. The next hard date is 23 July, when the six-month report is due. Until then, the trade-show offensive will be watched for clues on whether the order intake can sustain its momentum and eventually translate into margin improvement.

For now, the insider purchase provides a psychological floor, but it does not rewrite the underlying story: LPKF needs the order book to keep growing and the revenue line to catch up. If the €22 level can hold, the recent pullback may amount to nothing more than a routine consolidation in a powerful uptrend. A slip below that threshold, however, would risk reigniting the kind of volatility that has made this stock one of the year’s most dramatic—and most debated—moves.