value and opportunity

Disclaimer: This is not investment advice. PLEASE DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH !!!

1. Elevator pitch:

Bachem is a 5 bn CHF market cap Swiss listed pharmaceutical/specialty chemical company which is the global market leader in the (outsourcing of) manufacturing of Polypeptide, a complex molecule and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) that is, among others, behind the blockbuster drugs Wegovy, Ozempic etc. Demand for those molecules is poised to grow exponentially over the coming 5-7 years (15% market growth p.a. ,“Golden age of Peptides”). 

This growth is driven by several different fundamental growth drivers which increases the certainty of the projected growth rates. The complexity of the production process in addition to regulatory requirements and “Anti China” legislation in the US provides a decent “moat” for the coming years which makes Bachem, despite its relatively high valuation (28×2026 P/E), a very interesting investment case on a 3-5 year time horizon in my opinion.

It is clearly not an investment for everyone, but for more growth oriented investors, Bachem could be an interesting stock to look at. In my case, it is a 3% position for my small “quality growth bucket” alongside Wise and Chapters Group.

2. Some editorial remarks:

Initially, I planned to write up and invest into both Bachem and its Swiss listed competitor Polypeptide Group. Due to vacation time and the rumour of a PE take-over, Polypeptide share price increased by +50% since I started to deep dive into those two companies which made the stock less attractive. Bachem only went up like +15% so  I therefore concentrate on Bachem.

In addition, I just wanted to make it clear that I write “by hand” but I do use several AI tools during my research (NotebookLM, Claude Cowork). You will find some output of AI models here in this write-up, as for some cases (i.e. making pictures), AI has just much better capabilities than I have.

In any case, I do expect a lot of critical comments on this.

3. Soundtrack:

In order for my readers to actually listen to the obligatory soundtrack during reading the write-up, I’ll post it right at this spot. I think “Golden Years” from David Bowie is the perfect Soundtrack for this

David Bowie Golden Years

And here is the complete write-up (28 pages), Have fun !!!