Cummins sees fall in revenues, earnings in pandemic
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated.
Cummins says its second quarter revenues were down 2.3 billion dollars from the same quarter last year and earnings were down almost half a billion dollars.
The company released its second quarter financial filings today. It reported that second quarter revenues were $3.9 billion, a 38 percent decrease since 2019’s $6.2 billion. And earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were $549 million in the second quarter, down from $1.1 billion dollars a year ago.
Sales across the company were $8.9 billion, down from 2019’s $12.2 billion. The company said that weak economic activity and customer shutdowns due to the pandemic led to lower demand in markets except for China. North America sales were down 48 percent and international revenues were down 22 percent.
Cummins Chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger said in a conference call that many of the company’s customers were completely shut down in March and April, leading to the declines. He said this is the largest decline in revenue in company history. Linebarger said that through restructuring, temporary salary reductions and spending cuts, the company was able to maintain what he called “reasonable profitability” considering the size of the sales decline.
He thanked the employees for their sacrifices that are supporting the company during these challenging times.
Although the company expects third quarter revenue to improve, it also said there is significant uncertainty due to COVID-19. The company is not providing full year revenue or profitability guidance for 2020.