(BFM Stock Exchange) – The American bank advises to buy the action of the test, inspections and certifications group, stressing that it offers the best growth prospects of its sector. The establishment also notes that with its cash generation, the group will be able to make share buybacks and/or acquisitions.

For the time being, Bureau Veritas is far from experiencing a vintage sparkling on the stock market this year. Over the entire 2025, the action of the specialists in “ICT” (for “tests, inspections, certifications”) loses more than 7.6%, when the CAC 40 advances 9% over the same period.

Bureau Veritas, who joined the Parisian index recently (in December 2024), can he reverse the steam? Bank of America thinks yes. The American bank resumed this Friday the follow -up of the value, advising to buy it. Its course target, 32 euros, gives a potential of 19% to the title, during Thursday’s closing.

This Friday, the Bureau Veritas action took 0.6% in the middle of the morning, benefiting quite little from this positive council.

Bank of America argues that the French group has the best growth prospects for its sector. The establishment estimates that the company’s turnover will increase on average by 7.1% over the period 2024-2028, against 5.9% for the Swiss SGS, 6.2% for the British Intertek, and 5.3% for Eurofins.

>> Access our exclusive graphic analyzes, and enter into the confidence of the trading portfolio

Acceleration of acquisitions

The establishment recalls that the group plans to generate 90% of its income in markets where it is in the top 3 (compared to 75% in 2023) while “ICT” remain an atomized sector (70% of the market is held by groups which are not part of the world’s top 10). The company also intends to improve its efficiency and productivity to generate savings that will be reinvested in innovation.

Bank of America provides that the company’s adjusted operating margin will improve 1.33 percentage points between 2024 and 2028 and estimates that its cash flow will increase by 5% on average per year to reach 840 million euros in 2028, applying the accounting standard IFR 16.

The bank thinks that 63% of the cash generation will be used to pay dividends, which would leave around 270 million euros on average per year to make share buybacks and/or strategic acquisitions. On this last point, the company could accelerate its shopping by borrowing, its debt being a lower since its IPO in 2007.

“In the future, even if we continue to think that BVI will achieve additional large -scale acquisitions when they prove to be strategically relevant, we believe that the company will show opportunism and will consider, in a very selective manner, certain additional average acquisitions, with a turnover between 100 and 500 million euros”, anticipates the establishment.

“As a benchmark, over the past 20 years, Bureau Veritas has achieved more than 200 acquisitions, of which only four exceeded 100 million euros. We believe that the company will remain extremely rigorous in the evaluation of potential targets,” added the bank.