BN · rank #7 · 2026-07-23
EXA
PARIS · EUR · $2.40B (USD)
The exact numbers the algorithm saw.
| Composite score Z-score blend of the factors below; drives the rank. | 0.08 |
|---|---|
| Forward revenue growth Consensus forward revenue growth. | +27.4% |
| Forward net margin Consensus forward net margin. | +1.1% |
| Net margin TTM Trailing twelve month net margin. | +0.6% |
| Margin expansion Forward minus trailing net margin (percentage points). | +0.5% |
| Forward PEG Forward P/E to growth. Below 1 is cheap for the growth. | 0.52 |
| Debt / FCF Net debt relative to free cash flow. Lower is safer. | 2.49× |
| Analyst upside Spread between the consensus 12m target and the current price. | +16.1% |
| Last EPS surprise Most recent reported EPS versus consensus. | — |
| Market cap (USD) | $2.40B |
The AI research card
Independent qualitative review of each pick before the order is placed. On the rare day the research service is unavailable, the paper book trades on the quant ranking alone and no card appears here.
Summary
Exail Technologies is a vertically integrated French defense-tech group specializing in autonomous maritime drones, underwater robotics, and fiber-optic inertial navigation systems serving navies and defense primes across ~80 countries.
Rationale
The bottleneck-solver thesis is strongly reinforced — Exail holds proprietary FOG-based navigation and integrated maritime robotics stacks that navies cannot easily source elsewhere, evidenced by an €1.1B backlog (75% defense), 87% order growth in 2025, and 40% Q1-2026 revenue growth directly tied to mine-countermeasure and seabed-warfare capability gaps.
Material risks
- 1Large naval primes (e.g., Thales, Leonardo, L3Harris) could internalize autonomous underwater systems and GPS-denied navigation, directly eroding Exail's specialist position and compressing the margin expansion the model is pricing in.
- 2Export control tightening on advanced maritime robotics and inertial navigation equipment — given operations in ~80 countries — could freeze shipments to key non-NATO customers and disrupt backlog conversion, particularly if geopolitical restrictions widen.
AI verdict council
Each pick is reviewed independently by 3 models before any order. 3 of 3 voted to proceed.