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Cummins shares slide on job cuts, lower forecast

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Shares in Cummins Inc. fell to the lowest level in three months Wednesday after the Columbus-based engine maker lowered its forecasts for revenue and profit and said it expects to cut as many as 1,500 jobs by the end of the year.

Its stock was trading at about $88 at noon, down almost 3 percent from Tuesday's $90.84 close. Earlier, they dropped to $86.50, the biggest intraday decline since July 10. The shares had gained 3.2 percent this year through Tuesday.

Cummins on Tuesday cut its forecast for full-year revenue to about $17 billion from $18 billion and reduced expectations for earnings before interest and taxes to about 13.5 percent from a range of 14.25 percent to 14.75 percent. That doesn’t include the cost or benefits of the job cuts.

“In my view this is worse than feared,” said Kristine Kubacki, a St. Louis-based analyst at Avondale Partners LLC. “My sense is the Street thought there would be a guide down, but this is sizable.”

Cummins, which has about 8,000 employees in Indiana, produces engines for trucks and power-generation equipment. The company had second-quarter earnings of $2.45 a share, excluding gains from divestitures. That exceeded the average of 18 estimates compiled by Bloomberg of $2.27.

“We continued to see weak economic data in a number of regions during the third quarter, increasing the level of uncertainty regarding the direction of the global economy,” Chief Executive Officer Tom Linebarger said in a statement. “As a result of the heightened uncertainty, end customers are delaying capital expenditures in a number of markets, lowering demand for our products.”

Class 8 truck orders fell 35 percent in North America last month to 15,205, according to FTR Associates.

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  • Touche
    But its kind of hard for the working poor and most middle class families to do that these days. Some of us have health problems, had to pay for college ourselves and pay a tax rate higher than 14%.
  • @HOOSIERLIB
    Maybe this be a good "teaching moment" for Democrats. Always prepare for the worst. Keep at least 6 months of income in a liquid savings account, save save save, because it's your own responsibility to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
    • Safety Net
      Hopefully, this doesn't ruin anyone's life or hurt's their family. That being said, this will provide a good "teaching moment" for Republicans, perhaps they will understand the need for a good social safety net and that executives care more about their bonuses, than they do about the lives employees. Unfortunately, their nominees for governor and President reflect the latter philosophy. People before profits!

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      1. these guys only skill was to steal from other's hard earned savings.

      2. I voted for him last time and it WAS the LAST time. He needed to to quit running around the world on useless trips, and giving our $$ away to sports teams. I'll vote for anyone but Ballard next time. BTW...we gave $40M to the Pacers and cannot even watch the games on TV.

      3. For the people concerned about traffic, you should know that mixed-use projects (like the one being proposed), actually allows for and encourages more people to walk and bike, thereby mitigating additional automobile traffic. If we continue to design and build suburban-type projects in the City (i.e. automobile-oriented projects), we are not offering anything different from what the suburbs offer, which means we will continue to lose jobs/people to the suburbs. The reason Broad Ripple is somewhat successful today is that people want to live in a place that offers the convenience of being able to walk/bike to restaurants, retail, nightlife, the Monon, etc. Why would you not want to support a project that is complimentary to what already makes the area desirable? The real argument with this project should be its lack-luster design and layout, not the density.

      4. It is unfortunate that there is a perception that celebrities validate an event. The Indy 500 stands on its own, especially for those coming in from out of town. It was always so disturbing to read the gushing descriptions of Ashley Judd threaded throughout the local coverage. Very happy that era is at an end.

      5. Good ole' Obamacare. Thanks liberals and those who didn't bother to vote.

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