The submarine supplier Gabler is about to make its stock market debut in Frankfurt. Investors will soon have another defense stock to choose from. What are the chances for Gabler shares?
• Gabler aims to go public in Frankfurt on March 9th
• Profitable business with high margins
• Small-cap alternative to Rheinmetall and Co.?
The marine and marine technology specialist Gabler is planning to go public: The first day of trading for Gabler shares in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Scale segment is currently scheduled for March 9th. This means that another defense stock is entering the market – in a market environment that is characterized by increasing defense spending and growing security policy uncertainty.
Business focus on underwater missions
Gabler is best known as a provider of submarine deployment systems such as periscopes, snorkels for air supply, antenna masts for communication and radar and optronic sensor masts, but the Lübeck-based company also offers solutions for underwater communication and data management as well as energy supply and energy storage for underwater applications – for example to protect critical infrastructure on the seabed. The core business is therefore divided into three parts: Submarine Systems (submarine systems, deployment systems, steering machines), Subsea Communications & Data and Subsea Power. According to “GoingPublic”, the company has more than 250 customers, including well-known defense companies such as thyssenkrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) and HENSOLDT.
This is what Gabler is planning on going public
According to the company, Gabler’s offer as part of the IPO amounts to 1.05 million new shares as well as 1.575 million existing shares owned by the previous owner Possehl Mittelstands Beteiligungen GmbH, which wants to hold at least a minority stake even after the IPO. There were also 393,750 additional shares as part of the exhausted over-allotment option. The price range for Gabler shares was set at 37.00 to 47.00 euros at the end of February. According to “The Market”, the syndicate banks informed institutional investors about a multiple oversubscription during the offer period and promised an issue price of 44 euros or more in advance – an indication of lively interest. The issue price of 44 euros was then confirmed. According to its own information, Gabler has a market capitalization of 266.2 million euros at the start of the stock exchange – with a target free float of 49.9 percent. In terms of size, the company is most comparable to the Austrian company Steyr Motors, while the German industry giants Rheinmetall, RENK and HENSOLDT play in a different league with billion-dollar valuations on the stock exchange.
Gabler will receive net proceeds of around 46 million euros from the issue of the new shares. The marine specialist wants to use the capital primarily to strengthen its balance sheet and to finance growth. According to “boersengefluester.de”, half of the funds will be used to repay existing loans, while around a quarter will flow into organic growth and smaller acquisitions. Dividend payments would not be on the agenda for the time being.
Gabler CEO David Schirm sees the IPO as a strategic milestone. We are “in an exciting phase of growth and the IPO will enable us to accelerate the growth, development and expansion of our business,” he said, according to the press release. “We see an extremely attractive market environment for mission-critical underwater technologies. Rising defense spending, the protection of critical maritime infrastructure and the increasing importance of autonomous underwater systems are driving ongoing structural demand. With our leading position in submarine systems, dynamic growth in the areas of underwater communications & data and underwater energy and our substantial order backlog, we have a strong operational basis and clear planning security. As a listed company, we intend to further increase our innovative strength strengthen our international presence and consistently exploit the growth opportunities that arise,” added Schirm.
Full order books and high margins
At the end of 2025, Gabler said it had an order backlog of 359 million euros. The share of the firm order backlog was 89.8 million euros, the rest are possible but not yet signed contracts. The total order backlog corresponds to approximately six times the consolidated pro forma net sales for the 2025 financial year, which were 61.7 million euros. According to the company, around 75 percent of sales came from defense and defense-related solutions. In the medium term, net sales of 100 million euros are targeted, with double-digit percentage net sales growth of between 20 and 30 percent expected in the underwater energy and underwater communications & data business areas.
Analysts see further potential for sales. As “The Market” writes, Metzler Research expects increasing demand for Gabler’s products due to the current global upgrade, which should result in average annual sales growth of 12 percent by 2030. According to the news site, Cantor Fitzgerald even believes that sales can double within five years. In this context, “The Market” also points out that submarines are in use for up to 40 years on average and that a significant part of Gabler’s business consists of service and repair services – which means recurring and predictable revenue.
According to Gabler, the adjusted EBIT on a pro forma basis was 16.5 million euros in 2025, which corresponds to an adjusted pro forma EBIT margin of 28.2 percent. This makes the marine specialist “highly profitable,” according to “The Market.”
Is Gabler shares attractive?
According to “boersengefluester.de,” Gabler “faces a good future” and is likely to be “a momentum play […] have above-average chances”, as the investment story fits into the current environment in which defense stocks are among the winners. “GoingPublic” also describes the paper as a possible small-cap alternative to Rheinmetall, RENK and HENSOLDT. As “The Market” writes with reference to the competitors, the potential of the Gabler share would not yet be fully exploited even at the upper end of the price range, i.e. at 47 euros. So there would still be room for improvement above, since comparison stocks “measured in terms of enterprise value would be traded at around 13 times the adjusted Ebitda estimated for 2027” and the P/E ratio of the comparison group to the estimated net profit for 2027 would be mathematically equivalent to a market value of 320 to 370 million euros. As a reminder: at the time of the IPO, this is now around 266 million euros.
Fund managers also consider the shares attractive. “Gabler is valued like a rapidly growing defense company, but cheaper than the peer group, even at the upper end of the price range,” said Baki Irmak from The Digital Leaders Fund, according to “The Market”. However, another unnamed fund manager expressed a bit more caution to the news site. He also considers Gabler shares to be attractive, but only up to the middle of the originally planned price range of 37 to 47 euros. In his opinion, a significant discount to the comparison group is necessary due to several points. Gabler is unlikely to encounter any production problems with the planned growth and the strong dependence on the Lübeck location is also one of his points of criticism.
Investors now have to decide for themselves whether they want to bet directly on the Gabler share as an interesting small-cap alternative to Rheinmetall and Co. when it goes public, or whether they want to wait for developments in the first trading days, which are often characterized by increased volatility.
Editorial team finanzen.net
This text is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an investment recommendation. finanzen.net GmbH excludes any claims for recourse.
Selected leverage products on Gabler
With knock-outs, speculative investors can participate disproportionately in price movements. Simply select the lever you want and we will show you suitable open-end products on Gabler
The leverage must be between 2 and 20
Advertising
