STS Group AG
Assessment
Our Rating
A journalistic assessment by our editorial team at the time of the deep dive — it rates the company, not the entry point. Not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell.
The business works in principle, but one material question is open. As long as it stays open, our findings do not carry a quality verdict.
Why this colour
Yellow, because the business fundamentally works, the balance sheet is solid after the first half of 2026 and there is no sign of a going-concern risk — but key questions remain open: profitability is volatile (four loss years, interest coverage below 1 in 2025, clearly above 1 in the first half of 2026), more than half of revenue depends on one customer, and part of the revenue flows to the majority owner's group as payments before any earnings arise. That the stock looks very cheap is not a quality argument. The decision is yours.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
STS Group is improving operationally and trades at a very low valuation. For free-float shareholders, though, it remains unclear how much of that reaches them: four loss years in a row, €8.0 million in payments to the majority owner's group in 2025, no dividend for 2025, one major customer with half of revenue and a 2021 delisting plan on which the current reports are silent. Not investment advice.
Operating trend
In the first half of 2026, revenue (€156.8 million, up 9.3 percent) and EBITDA (€14.9 million, up 35 percent) rose, and the group earned €2.6 million; 2026 guidance was confirmed.
Balance sheet and liquidity
Net financial debt of €10.9 million against €44.9 million in cash as of June 30, 2026; equity ratio of 19.0 percent.
Bottom line
Group net losses from 2022 to 2025, most recently minus €0.5 million on €23.0 million in EBITDA; in 2025, EBIT (€5.3 million) was below finance costs (€6.9 million).
Majority owner
Adler Pelzer holds 74.42 percent; in 2025, €8.0 million for group services and licences went to its group, and companies of that group are building the new Taixing plant, on terms the report does not disclose. According to the auditor, STS's contribution was not unreasonably high or disadvantages were offset.
Customer concentration
One customer accounted for €150.4 million, or 51.5 percent of group revenue in 2025; the two largest customers together for a little over 70 percent.
Listing and price target
Majority owner's 2021 delisting plan (offer at €7.31, the legal minimum) never carried out; the only price target listed on the investor relations page (€12.70) comes from a study STS paid for.
Worth Noting
How it landed on our desk: the list of most-discussed stocks on the wallstreet-online forum (there since 08/12/2026), not our in-house stock scanner.
STS is not an SEC filer; all evidence comes from STS Group AG reports and documents on sts.group. Latest periodic report: Half-Year Report 2026 of 08/11/2026 (unaudited, not reviewed); no quarterly statement is required in the General Standard.
Enterprise value, interest coverage, revenue shares, price-to-earnings ratio and trading volume (median of daily Xetra volumes from 07/23 to 10/23/2026) are our own calculations.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of October 25, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at SF3.DE since then.
Later $1 a month per stock — signing up is free, and you'll be the first to know when it launches.
Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Last price: 4.22 € (As of: October 25, 2026)
Key figures
Key figures at a glance
Every figure we hold for this stock, grouped by topic. The question mark next to a label explains what the number means.
Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
No dividend data is available for this stock yet.
Quality & Screener
Quarters
Quarterly Figures
Each bar is one quarter, the last one is the most recent. Use the switch to step through the individual figures.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
These companies report in different currencies — switch on “Indexed” or pick a margin for a fair comparison.
The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales (€M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF (€M) | FCF (€M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q3 | 0.00 | – | 79 | 12.80 | 0.10 | 1 | -2 |
| 2024: Q4 | 0.02 | – | 79 | 12.80 | 0.10 | 1 | -2 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.00 | – | 73 | -10.20 | -0.50 | 5 | 4 |
| 2025: Q2 | -0.11 | – | 73 | -10.20 | -0.50 | 5 | 4 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.00 | – | 76 | -4.00 | 0.10 | 16 | 15 |
| 2025: Q4 | – | – | 76 | -4.00 | 0.10 | 16 | 15 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.00 | – | 80 | 10.50 | 1.60 | 10 | 8 |
| 2026: Q2 | – | – | 80 | 10.50 | 1.60 | 10 | 8 |
What Do These Terms Mean?
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Screening
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 2 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Quality & Balance Sheet
Research
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
AI classification
AI Rating
Die STS Group fertigt Kunststoff- und Verbundwerkstoffteile (Spritzguss, SMC) für Lkw, Pkw und Elektrofahrzeuge; sie verkauft keine KI-Produkte, und ihre Berichte nennen künstliche Intelligenz nicht als Bedrohung des Geschäfts. In Geschäftsbericht 2025 und Halbjahresbericht 2026 taucht KI nur im volkswirtschaftlichen Umfeld auf („KI-Boom“ als Konjunkturtreiber). Operativ belegt ist ein KI-Einsatz in der Lieferkette: Die Risikoanalyse der Lieferanten nach dem Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz läuft laut Nichtfinanziellem Bericht 2025 automatisiert mit einer KI-gestützten Software; die Software wurde 2023 vom Einkauf der Adler Pelzer Group eingeführt und 2024 bei STS implementiert (Nichtfinanzieller Bericht 2024). Nach der Vorrangregel (verkauft > bedroht > nutzt > neutral) ergibt das „nutzt“ — ein Hilfseinsatz in der Verwaltung, kein Umsatz- oder Ergebnisbeitrag. STS ist kein SEC-Filer (Regulierter Markt Frankfurt, Xetra: SF3); Belegquellen sind die Berichte auf sts.group, englischer Wortlaut aus den englischen Fassungen des Unternehmens.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„The risk analysis is performed automatically using an AI-supported software. This includes inspections at specific intervals to determine a supplier’s risk profile."
Die Risikoanalyse wird mithilfe einer KI-unterstützten Software automatisiert durchgeführt. Dazu gehören Inspektionen in bestimmten Abständen, um das Risikoprofil eines Lieferanten zu ermitteln.
Nichtfinanzieller Bericht 2025 (Governance, Lieferantenbeziehungen) — deutsches Original Seite 100; englischer Wortlaut aus dem Non-Financial Statement 2025 des Unternehmens, Seite 94 · 2026-04-16 · View SEC filing
„In 2023, the Adler Pelzer Group's purchasing department introduced software for real-time monitoring of suppliers of all Group companies. The implementation of this software was also initiated for the STS Group and was still being implemented in the 2024 reporting year. The software can use AI technology to analyse data from social media and news media about suppliers."
2023 führte der Einkauf der Adler Pelzer Group eine Software zur Echtzeit-Überwachung der Lieferanten aller Konzerngesellschaften ein. Die Einführung wurde auch für die STS Group angestoßen und lief im Berichtsjahr 2024 noch. Die Software kann KI-Technologie nutzen, um Daten aus sozialen Medien und Nachrichtenmedien über Lieferanten auszuwerten. (eigene Übersetzung)
Non-Financial Statement 2024 (englische Fassung), Seite 79 · 2025-03-31 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: Halbjahresbericht 2026 (Stichtag 30.06.2026) — KI nur als Konjunkturfaktor erwähnt 2026-08-11 · Geschäftsbericht 2025 — KI nur als Konjunkturfaktor erwähnt 2026-04-16 · Nichtfinanzieller Bericht 2025 — KI-gestützte Lieferanten-Risikoanalyse 2026-04-16 · Non-Financial Statement 2024 — Lieferanten-Software mit KI-Technologie 2025-03-31
Rated on October 25, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
The company
About the Company
Die STS Group AG mit Sitz in Hagen entwickelt und fertigt Kunststoff- und Verbundwerkstoffteile für Nutzfahrzeuge, Pkw und Elektrofahrzeuge: Außenverkleidungen, Innenraummodule, Dach- und Frontmodule sowie Batteriekomponenten aus Spritzguss und Sheet Molding Compound (SMC). Die Gruppe betreibt Werke in Frankreich, Deutschland, Mexiko, China und den USA und gehört mehrheitlich zur Adler Pelzer Group.
- ISIN
- DE000A1TNU68
Data as of: October 25, 2026 · symbol.source_foreign
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.