(Reuters) - Shares in Hitachi Ltd (6501.T), Japan's biggest electronics maker, tumbled 10 percent after its wider-than-expected loss estimate spooked investors who expected its restructuring steps would help improve its earnings.
A price slump and weak demand have hurt almost every corner of Hitachi's sprawling operations, hitting its auto and chip businesses especially hard and forcing the company to book the biggest-ever annual loss by a Japanese manufacturer.
Hitachi shares lost 128 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in market value on Wednesday after it forecast a 270 billion yen net loss for the year to next March, more than double the consensus of a 125.2 billion yen loss predicted in a poll of 16 analysts by Thomson Reuters.
The loss estimate, meaning it would lose money for a fourth straight year, would still be much smaller than the 787.3 billion yen loss for last financial year.
That massive loss had prompted Hitachi to map out a $5 billion cost-cutting plan for the current year and shift resources to more stable infrastructure operations, and it had said it expected tough going again this year.
"Hitachi is making progress in structural reforms at its challenged businesses such as automotive and digital media/consumer electronics," Credit Suisse analyst Hideyuki Maekawa said in a note to clients.
"But its latest projection seems to make clear that its cost-cutting efforts will not be enough to offset the impact of reduced revenues in its profitable businesses."
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