FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German industrial group Siemens lifted its full-year earnings forecast for the second time this year and raised its cost-savings target after most of its businesses beat expectations for quarterly results.
Siemens said on Thursday it now expected undiluted EPS of 6.50 to 6.70 euros versus its previous forecast of 6.00 to 6.40 euros and cost cuts of 950 million to 1 billion euros ($1.06 to $1.11 billion) instead of 850-950 million euros for the fiscal year to end-September.
Shares in the trains-to-turbines group were indicated 2 percent higher ahead of the 0700 GMT Frankfurt market open.
Capital goods analysts at Barclays (LON:BARC), who rate Siemens "equal weight/neutral", called it "a very solid Q3".
Siemens beat expectations for profit from its industrial units, which rose by a fifth to 2.19 billion euros ($2.44 billion) in the quarter to end-June, compared with the average forecast of 2.06 billion euros in a Reuters poll.
Chief Executive Joe Kaeser said in a statement the results came despite a "difficult market environment" and compared well with those of rivals, which include ABB, General Electric (NYSE:GE) and Rockwell Automation.
Siemens and the energy businesses on which it is increasingly dependent suffered from a continuing weak oil price, which has led many equipment makers to halt investments, and depressed profits at some Siemens operations including plant engineering unit Process Industries and Drives.
But most of Siemens' divisions exceeded analyst forecasts, except for Process Industries and Drives and healthcare unit Healthineers, where Siemens said investments in innovation had curbed the profit margin.
Power and Gas, Energy Management and Wind Power and Renewables reported marked improvements.
Group orders jumped 9 percent, excluding currency and portfolio effects, to a better-than-expected 21.1 billion euros, helped by large turbine contracts from the Americas and offshore wind deals in Britain and Germany, while sales rose 7 percent to 19.8 billion euros, in line with forecasts.
