GEA Earnings: Profit Margin Progression Impresses in Early 2024; Shares Remain Compelling and FVE Up

Wide-moat GEA Group delivered an impressive first-quarter result that featured resilient top-line growth—amid a weakened demand environment for food manufacturing equipment—coupled with robust profit margin progression. As we'd expected, demand for food processing equipment remains weak in early 2024, leading GEA's first-quarter order intake to fall about 10% organically. The decline in new orders was relatively broad-based, with all divisions reporting weakened order intake, aside from the food and healthcare technologies division, which benefited from a large order from a pharmaceutical customer).