German Engineer Cites Lower Market Expectations
Siemens AG SIE.XE -5.98% warned Thursday it doesn't expect to reach its profit-margin goal for fiscal 2014, shining an unwelcome light on the company's chief executive just months after the engineering giant revised its outlook for this year.The Siemens family own about 6% of the stock and may be ready to combine with the German institutional shareholders to shake things up in the CEO's office.
The company cited "lower market expectations" for the unexpected warning, prompting its shares to slide.
Siemens, which reported sales last year of €78.3 billion ($100.4 billion) and has 370,000 employees world-wide, had forecast a profit margin across all sectors of at least 12% for fiscal 2014. It didn't issue a revised target.
Last fiscal year, Siemens' profit margin declined to 9.5% from 12.8%. The figure refers to earnings before interest, taxes and some pension expenses at Siemens' energy, health-care, industrial and infrastructure businesses....MORE
If the problem goes deeper though, the world has real problems as SI is probably as close to a worldwide canary-in-the-coal-mine as any one company can be.
A Girl with a Dead Canary , 1765
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
53.3 x 46 cm , Oil on canvas
National Galleries of Scotland
