Vestas' Full-Year 2022 Results Disappoint, but Strong Pricing Points to Better Profitability in 2023

No-moat Vestas’ full-year 2022 results provided little new information after it revealed preliminary results two weeks ago. An operating loss of EUR 1.8 billion epitomizes the challenges the group faced, which included a combination of macroeconomic and internal factors, leading to higher warranty expenses and impairments. EBIT margin guidance for 2023 between negative 2% and 3% implies that the equipment business will remain in the red for most of 2023, but should benefit as the year progresses from price increases of 34% on new turbine orders. While we plan to revise our short-term forecasts, we don’t anticipate a meaningful change to our DKK 176 fair value estimate. Our preferred way for investors to get exposure to the wind energy theme remains wind energy utilities and producers of wind energy.