Two of Wienerberger’s most senior figures have quietly added to their stakes in the brick-and-pipe maker within the space of a fortnight, a show of faith that stands in sharp contrast to the group’s deteriorating earnings picture. Supervisory board member Peter Steiner purchased shares last Thursday in a transaction flagged as a mandatory disclosure, following a similar move by interim CEO Gerhard Hanke shortly after he assumed the top job. The back-to-back purchases suggest those closest to the company see value where the market currently does not.
The stock closed Tuesday at €19.69, up 1.2 percent on the day, but that modest bounce does little to mask the scale of the recent sell-off. Shares have lost roughly 8.2 percent since Heimo Scheuch’s surprise departure as chief executive two weeks ago, when the company cited health reasons for his immediate exit. Hanke, who took over on an interim basis, has yet to signal whether he intends to stay in the role permanently, and no details on a formal succession plan have emerged.
Revenue Climbs, Earnings Crumble
The insider purchases come against a backdrop of deeply mixed half-year results. Group revenue for the first six months reached €2.434 billion, up 4 percent year on year, but operating EBITDA fell 15 percent and EBIT collapsed by 70 percent. The second quarter tells a similar story: sales advanced 13 percent to €1.4 billion while EBITDA slipped from €253 million to €230 million.
Earnings per share of €0.29 for the quarter landed well short of the €0.495 analysts had penciled in, prompting a wave of estimate revisions in mid-August. The average price target among covering banks was cut by roughly 17 percent to €23.73, though some analysts actually raised their full-year EPS forecasts on the back of what they see as disciplined cost control. Oddo BHF was the most recent house to weigh in, trimming its target on August 17 while keeping a Neutral rating.
Management attributes the divergence between top-line growth and profitability to a deliberate strategic pivot. The company is steering away from the cyclical new-build residential market — still mired in weakness across Europe — and toward infrastructure and renovation, which together now account for more than 60 percent of total sales. The group reiterated that positioning in its half-year statement, pointing to resilient demand in those segments even as housing construction remains under pressure.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Wienerberger?
A Stock Trading Near Its Floor
The market’s verdict on that strategy has been harsh. The shares are down 35 percent over the past twelve months and 34 percent since the start of the year, leaving them roughly 37 percent below the 52-week high of €31.42 reached on August 26, 2025. At Tuesday’s close, the stock sat just 3.6 percent above its 52-week low of €19.00, touched on August 19, 2026.
Wednesday brought some relief, with the stock climbing 2.6 percent to €20.20 as institutional investors gathered for the Hamburg Investor Days, where the company’s diversification story took center stage. Over a seven-day stretch, the gain amounts to 4.1 percent. Even so, the shares remain 7.4 percent below their 50-day moving average of €21.82, a technical level that suggests the recovery has yet to convince chart watchers.
Analysts had already flagged upside potential following the dip roughly a week ago, and the insider activity has reinforced that view among some observers. The purchases by both Hanke and Steiner — coming as they do during a leadership transition and a period of pronounced share-price weakness — carry particular weight, signaling that those with the deepest knowledge of the business are willing to put their own money on the line.
The Long Game
The market consensus points to a return to double-digit earnings-per-share growth from 2027 onward, a projection built largely on the assumption that the infrastructure and renovation push will eventually offset the drag from new residential construction. Whether that thesis holds may depend as much on who ultimately takes the helm as on execution of the strategy itself.
The next major test arrives on November 12, when Wienerberger publishes its third-quarter trading statement. Until then, investors will be watching whether the stabilizing signals from Hamburg hold up — or whether the operational weakness that marked the second quarter once again takes control of the narrative.
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