*** S&T AG (SANT GY; close 5.101; mcap EUR223.6m; analyst recom.: BUY, PT 7.60) ... secures medtech equipment against hacking
> IT systems of a large number of hospitals in and around Cologne have recently been under massive attack forcing some hospitals to shut down their IT systems for a while and hence stop surgery
> The hospital in Neuss stated that that a computer virus had been introduced throwing back the hospital to a level reached in 2006
> S&T has won two major customers in the Medical space: These will equip internet-connected CTs with S&T's security appliances to protect them from unauthorised access.
-> This should be good for EUR10-15m sales next year by itself explaining up to 20% yoy segment sales growth.
> Next to this, S&T is in discussions with potential new, big customers also across other end-markets. Especially Aerospace looks promising, where it already has Lufthansa Systems as a partner.
-> Here, S&T is in talks with another partner to supply protection for the in-flight wifi and entertainment systems.
> Hence, Appliances Security (2015: EUR80m sales / 60% gross margin) looks set to remain on a very dynamic growth path in 2016.
> Smart Energy (2015: EUR 55m sales / 45% gross margin) to become biggest positive swing factor for 2016: Management feels confident in growing segment sales by >25% yoy to >EUR 70m
-> S&T is amongst the final two bidders for a smart grid project in Albania, has just won its second pilot project in Romania and is looking to receive a follow-up project in Poland.
=> CONCLUSION: This latest example in the health care sector shows that companies across all sectors and sizes are still not fully aware of the risks from cyber-attack. Hence this segment still faces a significant capex pent-up demand which will be unleashed within the coming years. Hereby S&Ts embedded computer technology is exactly positioned in cyber security niche markets. While valuation of companies benefitting of the trend towards eHealth like CompuGroup (software for practitioners and hospitals) are sky rocketing (CompuGroup trades at 20xEV/EBIT2017E) S&T is still not on the investors radar screens being a crucial supplier to the internet of things enabling industrial revolution 4.0, smart energy as well as eHealth. While CompuGroup shows a topline growth of 5%p.a., S&T grows organically >10% p.a. and at a rate of roughly 25% p.a. with its high-margin division security appliances (EBITDA margin 15-20% vs. CompuGroup 20-25%). S&T is still cheap given a roughly 20% annual EBIT growth valued at 7.5xEV/EBIT2017E. STRONG BUY!