Quantafuel (Buy, TP: NOK82.00) - Party postponed but still on

The Q4 report revealed a later Kristiansund start-up than we expected, which could affect the entire project pipeline in our view. However, we continue to stress the business’s attractiveness and believe near-term triggers in announced FIDs should drive the investment case and solidify Quantafuel’s position as the leader in chemical recycling. We reiterate our BUY and have lowered our target price to NOK82 (NOK87).

Northern Lights

Quantafuel (Buy, TP: NOK87.00) - The waiting game continues

While we continue to wait for positive news on Skive’s operations and a firm roll-out plan, we still believe the process will be a success once the operational issues are resolved. Due to the start-up issues at Skive, we have pushed out our timing on full ramp-up of the first two plants, but believe the equity story is intact. Ahead of the Q4 results, we reiterate our BUY and have lifted our target price to NOK87 (84).

Airthings (No_rec, TP: NOK) - Recommendation and target price withdrawn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by a non-binding letter of intent from Firda AS to explore a potential sale of its business segment assets, we have withdrawn our target price and recommendation.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.