Cummins withdraws 2025 financial guidance over tariff uncertainty

Cummins Inc. has become the latest in a string of companies to withdraw its 2025 guidance, saying the uncertainty about tariffs has made it too difficult to accurately predict its future financial performance.

In February, the Columbus, Indiana-based manufacturer said it expected full-year 2025 revenue to fall in a range between a 2% decrease and a 3% increase from its 2024 revenue of $34.1 billion.

But in its first-quarter financial report issued Monday, Cummins withdrew that prediction.

“We are entering unchartered territory as the trade tariffs start to have a more significant impact beginning in the second quarter,” CEO Jennifer Rumsey told investors during a quarterly earnings call Monday morning. “The breadth and changing nature of the tariffs have introduced a great degree of uncertainty and mean that at this time, we are unable to predict with confidence our expected performance for the year.”

Rumsey also said that Cummins is well-positioned for the uncertainty and has already deployed some tactics, including dual sourcing and inventory strategies, to mitigate the effect of tariffs.

During Monday’s earnings call, Cummins Chief Financial Officer Mark Smith said tariffs “had essentially close to zero financial impact” on the company’s first-quarter results, but he fully expects that will change beginning this quarter.

“Cummins is in a strong position strategically and financially, with an experienced leadership team well-versed in navigating through periods of uncertainty,” Rumsey said. “We look forward to restoring our guidance when we have more stability in the outlook.”

Cummins reported revenue of $8.17 billion in the first quarter, down 3% from the same period a year earlier.

The company reported a first-quarter profit of $824 million, or $5.96 per share, compared with $2 billion, or $14.03 per share, during the same period last year. Cummins noted that its first-quarter 2024 results were affected by a $1.3 billion gain related to the spinoff of its Atmus business and by restructuring costs of $29 million.

Shares of Cummins were trading at $307.83 at midday Monday, up 3% from Friday’s closing price.

Other companies, both in Indiana and elsewhere, have also recently revised or withdrawn their full-year guidance.

In its quarterly earnings report issued April 29, Batesville-based industrial manufacturer Hillenbrand Inc. said it was updating its full-year guidance to reflect the impact of tariffs and “elevated macroeconomic uncertainty.”

The company’s current guidance is for full-year revenue of between $2.56 billion and $2.62 billion, which represents a decline of between 18% and 20% compared with the previous year. In its previous guidance issued Feb. 5, Hillenbrand’s guidance was for full-year revenue of between $2.63 billion and $2.79 billion.

Lafayette-based Wabash National Corp. last week reduced its full-year revenue outlook to $1.8 billion, down from the $2 billion outlook the company had issued on Jan. 29. Wabash, which makes truck trailers, said it did not expect to see a direct impact from tariffs because its own manufacturing and supply chain is heavily weighted toward the U.S., but that its customers were delaying purchases because of tariff-related uncertainty.

A host of other companies have also reduced or suspended their 2025 guidance, including General Motors, Stellantis N.V., American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines and Harley-Davidson Inc.

Not every manufacturer has taken such steps, though. Indianapolis-based Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. last week reaffirmed the guidance it had previously issued on Feb. 11, saying it expects sales between $3.2 billion and $3.3 billion and profit between $735 million and $785 million.