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German automotive supplier making lighting systems and electronic components, majority-owned by Forvia.
German automotive supplier making lighting systems and electronic components, majority-owned by Forvia.
Wins supply contracts for specific car models years before production, then ships lighting and electronics as those cars are built, so revenue follows vehicle output. Forvia, the French supplier formed in 2022 by combining Faurecia with Hella, holds the majority. A separate aftermarket arm sells spare parts and workshop equipment.
Moat: narrow (IP / patents, switching costs, process know-how). Specialized lighting/electronics technology gets designed into vehicle platforms years in advance.
Headquarters: Lippstadt, Germany · Founded: 1899 · Employees: 34,046
Size HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA (HLE.DE) is a Germany Consumer Discretionary company (Auto Parts: OEM) with a market value of $8.26B, the 56th largest of 205 Germany companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at €66.30 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 7.1%, against -10.9% for the median peer and +2.6% for the Germany market (cap-weighted) — 10th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 1.1% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.2%); the operating margin is 4.8% (peer median 8.4%).
Valuation It trades at 34.7× forward earnings against a peer median of 20.5× (7th most expensive of 21).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 2% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +6%, so the hurdle is -4 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.8 points above its cost of capital (5.3% WACC).
Credit HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA has 2 bonds outstanding ($891M), rated Ba1 by the agencies and trading like BB+ at a weighted spread of 180 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 25 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | €7.87B | €7.86B | €8.02B | €7.95B | €7.56B |
| Revenue growth | — | -2% | +1% | +5% | — |
| Gross profit | €1.71B | €1.78B | €1.84B | €2.02B | €1.75B |
| EBITDA | €964M | €992M | €992M | €1.00B | €719M |
| Net income | €112M | €83.3M | €353M | €264M | €601M |
| Free cash flow | €388M | €554M | €398M | €361M | €316M |
| Capital expenditure | €277M | €616M | €680M | €635M | €403M |
| Total debt | €1.42B | €1.13B | €1.20B | €1.27B | €1.43B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA HLE.DE | $8.26B | -7% | -1% | 5% | 34.7× | 2.4% |
| Valeo FR.PA | $3.00B | -15% | -2% | 4% | 7.3× | -8.2% |
| Koito Manufacturing 7276.T | $4.27B | -6% | +6% | 6% | 13.3× | -0.8% |
| Stanley Electric 6923.T | $2.41B | +1% | +11% | 7% | 9.9× | 1.3% |
| Aptiv APTV | $7.98B | -32% | -5% | 10% | 6.8× | -6.8% |
| Continental CON.DE | $15.8B | +2% | -35% | n/a | 12.1× | -0.2% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | HLE.DE | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -3.9% | +2.0% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -7.1% | -10.9% | 10th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -22.3% | -29.3% | 9th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -1.1% | +6.2% | 5th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 4.8% | 8.4% | 6th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 34.7× | 20.5× | 7th most expensive of 21 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 2.4% | 9.6% | 4th least demanding of 16 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +6.1% | +7.7% | 3rd lowest of 16 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -3.7 pp | -2.6 pp | 8th least demanding of 16 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +2.8 pp | +1.6 pp | 9th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 7.6× | 10.4× | 6th cheapest of 13 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -0.1× | 1.1× | 3rd least indebted of 13 |
| Bond spread | 180 bp | 113 bp | widest of 4 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA HLE.DE | Germany | $8.26B | -7% | -1% | 5% | 34.7× | 2.4% | +6.1% |
| UNO Minda UNOMINDA.NS | India | $8.11B | +16% | +19% | 8% | 53.6× | 46.9% | +25.0% |
| Huayu Automotive Systems 600741.SS | China | $7.87B | -11% | +1% | 3% | 7.9× | -15.5% | +6.6% |
| Autoliv ALV | United States | $8.89B | +2% | +4% | 10% | 11.0× | 2.6% | +7.7% |
| Niterra 5334.T | Japan | $9.01B | +5% | +16% | 19% | 9.9× | 4.0% | +11.3% |
| Huizhou Desay SV Automotive 002920.SZ | China | $7.12B | -23% | +12% | 7% | 17.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Allison Transmission ALSN | United States | $9.65B | -6% | +71% | 20% | 11.0× | 2.6% | +7.7% |
| Donaldson DCI | United States | $9.77B | -2% | +5% | 16% | 19.5× | 8.3% | +6.4% |
| Aisin 7259.T | Japan | $9.78B | -14% | +6% | 4% | 10.0× | -0.3% | +7.7% |
| Trelleborg TREL-B.ST | Sweden | $10.1B | +19% | +2% | 19% | 22.9× | 9.6% | +2.6% |
| Anhui Jianghuai Automobile 600418.SS | China | $6.48B | -60% | +23% | -2% | 44.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Zhejiang Sling Intelligent Drive 301550.SZ | China | $6.34B | +14% | +7% | 19% | 230.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Wanxiang Qianchao 000559.SZ | China | $6.24B | -22% | -4% | 8% | 36.7× | 21.2% | +4.2% |
| Kuang-Chi Technologies 002625.SZ | China | $6.05B | -52% | -7% | 20% | 21.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Sona BLW Precision Forgings SONACOMS.NS | India | $5.94B | +56% | +42% | 17% | 63.7× | 48.2% | +23.6% |
| Ningbo Tuopu 601689.SS | China | $11.7B | -26% | +11% | 9% | 29.9× | 15.3% | +35.4% |
| Schaeffler SHA0.DE | Germany | $5.83B | -45% | -1% | 2% | 18.4× | 10.7% | +13.3% |
| Cummins India CUMMINSIND.NS | India | $11.9B | -25% | +15% | 19% | 43.5× | 39.5% | +22.7% |
| Brembo BRE.MI | Italy | $5.62B | -11% | -3% | 7% | 13.7× | 17.3% | +10.9% |
| Lear LEA | United States | $5.31B | -21% | +4% | 4% | 6.9× | -1.3% | +6.4% |
| Jiangsu Xinquan Automotive Trim 603179.SS | China | $5.07B | +5% | +12% | 6% | 33.5× | n/a | n/a |
HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA has 2 bonds outstanding with $891M face value. The agencies rate it Ba1; its bonds trade like BB+. Weighted yield 4.78%, a spread of 180 bp over government bonds.