Q1 trends, estimates, valuation and top picks

Norion Bank (Buy, TP: SEK49.00) - Signs of recovery in past-due loans

Past-due real-estate loans have started to come down, with Q1 profit boosted by the recognition of accrued interest revenues. We expect this to trend to continue over time, and see continued upside potential from this, along with our forecast 15–20% average annual total yield. We reiterate our BUY and target price of SEK49.

SCA (Buy, TP: SEK160.00) - Quality, growth and forest values

The main appeal of SCA in our view is its backward-integrated business, with its own forests supplying about 50% of its wood and fibre needs. With the stock priced at a record-high discount to the value of its own forestry business at the same time that SCA offers earnings growth and trades at attractive multiples on our forecasts, we continue to see a compelling investment case. We reiterate our BUY and SEK160 target price.

Airthings (No_rec, TP: NOK) - Recommendation and target price withdrawn

As a result of DNB Markets acting as financial advisor in conjunction with the company’s announcement (link) of a strategic review prompted by a non-binding letter of intent from Firda AS to explore a potential sale of its business segment assets, we have withdrawn our target price and recommendation.

SpareBank 1 Helgeland (Hold, TP: NOK167.00) - Softer margin, but lower costs

Helped by still-solid core revenues, cost reduction YOY and moderate loan losses, HELG reported a Q1 ROE of 12.3%, despite some margin pressure. With solid earnings generation, the bank increased its CET1 ratio by ~20bp to 18.0% and still guides for a 0.8%-point benefit from the implementation of Basel IV, boding well for meaningful distributions. We have lowered our 2026–2027e EPS by 0–1%, That said, we reiterate our target price of NOK167. With the stock trading at a 2026e P/E of ~12.4x, we continue to find the valuation fair and reiterate our HOLD.

Smartoptics (Buy, TP: NOK27.00) - We remain optimistic

Smartoptics’ Q1 results marked a slower start to the year than we forecast, primarily owing to weaker sales in Devices, which seems to be back to near-term tariff-induced uncertainty. On the flip side, we understand the slowdown seen towards end-Q1 has already caught up again in order inflow, and thus we remain upbeat for the quarters ahead. Following an estimate reduction, we have lowered our target price to NOK27 (30) but reiterate our BUY.