This analyst just hiked his price target on 5N Plus

National Bank Financial analyst Baltej Sidhu says 5N Plus(5N Plus Stock Quote, Chart, News, Analysts, Financials TSX:VNP) is positioned to benefit as space infrastructure becomes more power intensive and demand grows for mission-critical materials and components.

As reported by The Globe and Mail, following a visit to AZUR’s Heilbronn facility in Germany, Sidhu maintained his “Outperform” rating on 5N Plus and raised his target to a Street-high $50.00 from $41.00.

The average target is $38.00

“The space industry is evolving into a long-duration infrastructure buildout, with more than 43,000 satellites expected to be deployed globally over the next decade,” Sidhu said.

The analyst said sovereign communications networks, defence architectures and improving launch economics are increasing demand for orbital infrastructure, with power needs becoming more intensive.

Through AZUR, Sidhu said 5N Plus is directly exposed to that trend through high-efficiency germanium-based space solar cells used in applications where reliability, radiation tolerance and lifecycle performance are critical.

Sidhu said germanium is becoming strategically important across space and defence applications. Although global resources exceed 5.5 million tonnes, annual production remains limited at more than 200 tonnes. Following Chinese export restrictions, he said germanium prices have risen 150% over the past two years.

“We believe VNP’s decades-long expertise in specialty-material refining positions the company as one of the few major Western suppliers capable of addressing this critical bottleneck,” he said.

Sidhu said that role was further validated by a recent US$18.1-million Defense Production Act award.

He also sees several catalysts ahead, including a potential 10% to 15% increase to fiscal 2026 guidance and additional capacity at AZUR’s Heilbronn facility, which could precede a larger greenfield expansion.

AZUR is effectively sold out through fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027, with a meaningful portion of fiscal 2028 and fiscal 2029 already committed. Sidhu said year-to-date space bid activity has doubled year-over-year on a dollar basis.

“While VNP certainly is not a defence prime, we believe the company’s growing participation in strategically important defence supply chains increasingly aligns it with many of the same secular drivers supporting defence-sector multiple expansion,” he said.

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