Dagens industri notes that last year's buy recommendation on fats specialist AAK failed to deliver. Total return stood at -3 percent, compared to over 17 percent for the Stockholm Stock Exchange including dividends.

During 2025, AAK saw volumes decline by 8 percent while earnings per share fell by 3 percent. However, the first quarter of 2026 showed some improvement, with a 3 percent increase in both volumes and earnings per share. Despite this slight recovery, the newspaper finds it difficult to maintain a buy recommendation on the company.

Di has previously highlighted AAK's persistently weak cash flow and criticized the company's bonus programs and capital allocation. AAK recently distributed 2.4 billion in ordinary and special dividends despite a negative free cash flow of -600 million kronor in 2025. Furthermore, a share buyback program of 3 billion kronor over a three-year period was approved, which is also considered hard to justify.

'The stock is not particularly expensive at a P/E of 16 based on this year's earnings forecast. But for the shares to become attractive again, cash flow must improve significantly and become more stable, and the board must stop awarding multi-million bonuses from shareholders' funds for meeting ESG targets when operational performance is weak', Di writes.