Shares in Daimler Truck dropped 7% in early Frankfurt trade after the company cut its full year outlook late on Thursday, citing persisting market weakness in North America.
The owner of U.S. truck brand Freightliner said it expected adjusted earnings before interest and taxes between 3.6-4.1 billion euros ($4.11-$4.69 billion), a significant decline compared to 4.15 billion in a company compiled consensus.
The new guidance accounts for the continued market weakness in North America, whereas it was unchanged for all other segments, the company said in a statement.
“The lowered FY25 guidance follows other recent OEM commentary … but was not expected in this magnitude,” said Fabio Hoelscher, an analyst from Warburg Research.
In May, the company cut its full-year adjusted EBIT forecast, reflecting lower expectations for its North American business on heightened demand uncertainty due to U.S. duties.
The group’s second order intake came in at 88.2 thousand, with North American orders standing at 13.8 thousand.
The latter was below expectations of 21 thousand, cited by a local trader.
“Order intake at Trucks North America was very weak and clearly underperformed the industry,” Hoelscher said, adding will likely cause a soft Q3 result for the segment.
North America is the largest and most profitable market for Daimler Truck. In 2024, the company generated about 44% or total revenue in the region, with profit margin of 12.9%, materially higher than 8.9% for the industrial business.
Last week, Volkswagen’s truck unit Traton slashed its full-year guidance citing weaker U.S. demand amid rising trade tensions, seeing continued economic weakness in Europe, cautious sentiment among North American truck buyers, and subdued demand in Brazil.
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