The 2025 stock market year was full of exciting developments. Bull markets in commodities, interest rate cuts, and geopolitical tensions. However, some companies, such as Evotec, had to deal with many home-grown problems and lagged behind the positive performance of the overall market. Mutares saw its coffers fill up, but its share price could have done better this year. Next year could be very successful for RZOLV Technologies. The Canadians are solving a major problem in gold mining.
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RZOLV Technologies – Innovative solution with great potential
The price of gold is at a record high, and gold miners are working flat out. RZOLV Technologies (TSXV:RZL) is solving a major problem associated with the negative effects of gold mining and could soon tap into a large market or become a takeover candidate.
For years, the Canadian company has been researching a safe alternative to sodium cyanide. This toxic chemical is used almost everywhere in the world to efficiently leach finely distributed gold from low-grade ores. However, resistance to the use of sodium cyanide is growing. The global cyanide market has an annual volume of around USD 2.4 billion.
The Canadians hope to capture a 10% share of this market. RZOLV has developed a water-based, non-toxic leaching formulation and has applied for a patent for the process. The results of independent testing by SGS and other external tests have impressively confirmed that RZOLV’s approach is on par with previous methods in terms of yield and speed. A major advantage in practical application for mining companies is that RZOLV’s solution can be easily integrated into existing production.
However, it can be used not only for gold extraction, but also for the extraction of critical metals and rare earths. This significantly increases the market potential. The Canadian solution is compatible with common processing technologies and is energy-efficient even at room temperature.
On the way to industrial scale, a 100-ton pilot test is currently planned in Arizona. If the results are positive, the innovative Canadian solution will go into mass production or be licensed out. Given the disruptive potential of the approach and a market capitalization of only CAD 29 million, the Company could soon become a takeover candidate.
Evotec – Potential takeover candidate
According to current data, M&A volume in the first quarter of the year was high at USD 37.7 billion. Although several larger deals took place, around 90% of the transactions were worth less than USD 1 billion each. The larger transactions mostly involved strategic additions to pipelines. The strategic logic behind the “smaller” deals was to expand innovation pipelines and gain access to new therapeutic areas. When will Evotec appear in these statistics?
The shares of the Hamburg-based drug discovery and development specialist plummeted last year as a result of strategic and operational problems and are currently bottoming out in the EUR 5 range. Somewhat surprisingly, the investment holding company of the Danish pharmaceutical group Novo Nordisk recently sold a large block of shares at the low price level.
Evotec’s business activities include extensive and broad-based partnership models with the top 20 pharmaceutical companies, several hundred biotech companies, and academic institutions. The Company’s strategic market position and low valuation of EUR 900 million make it a potential takeover candidate. Analysts have set an average price target of EUR 8.50, representing upside potential of around 65%.
Mutares – Specialist in corporate investments
The private equity holding company generates its profits by buying and selling corporate stakes. Based in Munich, Mutares acquires companies undergoing transitional phases that show significant operational improvement potential and sells them again after stabilization and repositioning. The success of this strategy and the high returns it has generated can be seen impressively in the Steyr investment.
Mutares acquired the Austrian defense specialist in 2022, brought it to market in 2024, and cashed in on the investment this year with a gross return of an impressive EUR 170 million. This compares with a current market capitalization of just over EUR 600 million. Analysts assign the stock upside potential of over 50%, in addition to a generous dividend yield of around 7%.
RZOLV solves a major problem in gold mining by eliminating the use of toxic chemicals in the leaching process. Following a successful pilot phase, the Company plans to enter the mass market. A market-ready solution could also attract attention and make the Company a potential takeover target. Evotec and Mutares are positively rated by analysts and show significant upside potential.
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