Siemens Faces a Defining Moment: Record Orders, a Healthineers Breakup, and a Rare Rebuke From Within
Published on 08/19/2026 at 03:26 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
For a company that just posted its strongest quarterly order intake on record, Siemens is generating an unusual amount of noise from unexpected corners. The industrial giant's third-quarter results for fiscal 2026 were undeniably robust — incoming orders climbed 13 percent to a record EUR 27.9 billion, revenue advanced 7 percent to EUR 20.8 billion, and industrial profit jumped a quarter to EUR 3.5 billion. Management responded by lifting full-year earnings guidance to EUR 11.20–11.50 per share, up from the previous EUR 10.70–11.10 range, while the Smart Infrastructure division raised its own targets: comparable sales growth is now seen at 10–11 percent, with margins of 18.5–19.5 percent.
Yet the numbers tell only part of the story. The company is simultaneously navigating a structural overhaul — the planned spin-off of Siemens Healthineers, for which tax matters have now been resolved with the authorities — and facing pointed criticism from its own workforce about the path that led here.
Labor's Verdict on Two Eras of Restructuring
Tobias Bäumler, chairman of Siemens' group works council, has used the moment to draw a sharp distinction between the conglomerate's two recent restructuring phases. Speaking to WELT AM SONNTAG, Bäumler lambasted the breakup orchestrated under former CEO Joe Kaeser, who between 2018 and 2020 separated Healthineers and Siemens Energy from the parent group. "Both companies have developed excellently, and with them Siemens would be even more valuable today," Bäumler said, adding that the works council opposed the moves at the time because they were "purely margin-driven."
The critique carries added bite given that Kaeser now chairs the supervisory board of Siemens Energy — a company that has since become one of the DAX's strongest performers. In the same quarter that Siemens AG managed single-digit revenue growth, Siemens Energy posted an 18.5 percent sales increase to EUR 11.45 billion and a 63.6 percent jump in profit to EUR 1.56 billion.
The current restructuring under CEO Roland Busch, by contrast, earns the works council's endorsement. "Unlike the last corporate restructuring under Joe Kaeser, we view the current one under Roland Busch positively," Bäumler said. The difference, in his view, lies in the approach: Busch is prioritizing technology and preparing the 179-year-old group for the AI era rather than pursuing margin gains through divestiture. Bäumler is calling for a unified data foundation across the entire company — the kind of cross-divisional integration he says younger firms like Google and Amazon already have in place.
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The Valuation Question Hangs Over the Rally
The internal debate feeds into a broader market discussion about whether Siemens' shares carry a conglomerate discount relative to its separated businesses. With a market capitalization of EUR 218.11 billion, the stock trades about 15 percent above its level at the start of the year and sits just 5.3 percent below its 52-week high of EUR 291.25, reached in early August. The current price of around EUR 275.30–275.95 puts it barely 0.6 percent above its 50-day moving average of EUR 274.28 — a sign that near-term momentum is neutral rather than overheated.
The central question for the coming months is whether the market treats the upgraded guidance as sustainable or as a cyclical peak. Much depends on whether the order momentum at Smart Infrastructure and Mobility carries into the fourth quarter, or whether recent megadeals — notably the EUR 3 billion contract with Italian high-speed operator Italo for 26 trains, a 30-year maintenance agreement, and options for 14 additional units — prove to be one-off events.
On the bearish side, the stock's proximity to its record high leaves limited room for disappointment. The Healthineers spin-off still requires approval from both companies' shareholder meetings next year, a process that could stall or fail. And if order intake falters in the fourth quarter, the freshly raised guidance would quickly come under pressure. Tuesday's 2.0 percent decline — with no identifiable company-specific trigger — hints at some underlying nervousness, even as analysts at Berenberg lifted their price target to EUR 330 from EUR 320 on Monday.
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A Focused Future, If Shareholders Agree
The planned acquisition of Italian rail-technology activities from Mermec, reported by Reuters at around EUR 1.2 billion and announced in May, could further strengthen the portfolio and boost earnings per share in the second year after completion. Combined with the Healthineers separation, the result would be a more focused industrial group that analysts could value with greater clarity.
The next concrete test arrives with the full-year fiscal 2026 results, which will show whether the August guidance upgrade holds. Between now and then, Siemens must demonstrate that its record order book is more than a seasonal spike — and that the internal consensus behind Busch's vision is as solid as the external numbers suggest.
