Frankfurt, Feb 12, 2026, 11:27 CET — Regular session
- Shares fell about 2.5% after Mercedes-Benz flagged a thinner car-unit margin for 2026.
- The group proposed a €3.50 dividend and kept a buyback running, while pushing fresh cost cuts.
- Traders are watching tariffs, China demand and how fast the savings show up in cash flow.
Mercedes-Benz Group AG shares (MBGn.DE) were down 2.5% at 56.52 euros in Frankfurt trade on Thursday after the carmaker pointed to a weaker profit margin for its cars business in 2026. Mercedes expects adjusted return on sales — operating profit as a share of revenue — of 3% to 5%, with group revenue seen flat and industrial free cash flow slightly lower. (MarketScreener)
The outlook lands badly for a sector already leaning on margins as the quickest read of pricing power, especially in China. Shares of BMW, Volkswagen and Porsche also wobbled early, and Bernstein analyst Stephen Reitman wrote that the top end of Mercedes’ margin range sat below market expectations. (MarketScreener UK)
Mercedes said adjusted EBIT, which strips out some one-off items, fell to 8.2 billion euros in 2025 on revenue of 132.2 billion euros, while free cash flow from the industrial business — cash left after investments — was 5.4 billion euros. It proposed a dividend of 3.50 euros per share, and said a 2 billion-euro buyback launched in November left up to 1.7 billion euros still to run in 2026; it also outlined a drive to cut production costs per unit by 10% versus 2024 levels from 2027. “Our financial results remained within our guidance,” CEO Ola Kaellenius said. (Mercedes-Benz Group)
A separate update put more of the blame on tariffs. Mercedes said operating profit (EBIT) more than halved to 5.8 billion euros in 2025 after about 1 billion euros in tariff costs and negative currency effects, undershooting a 6.6 billion-euro forecast from a Visible Alpha poll, and it reiterated plans for deeper cost cuts and product launches to work back toward an 8% to 10% cars margin over time. (Reuters)
China remains the sore spot. CFO Harald Wilhelm told analysts that sales were still falling in the country and the company was “maintaining a cautious outlook”, even as it looks for a lift from new models in the second half; he also pointed to 1.6 billion euros of restructuring costs booked in 2025 tied to workforce actions. (MarketScreener)
Some analysts see the reset as structural. Kepler Cheuvreux analysts said the negative revision to Mercedes’ mid-term margin target looked like “another round of accounting for the new reality of the auto industry,” while arguing tariffs were now baked into the guidance. (Investing)
In corporate filings, a voting-rights announcement showed Morgan Stanley’s disclosure in Mercedes reached 7.79% when counting financial instruments, with 0.15% held in shares, after a threshold was crossed on Feb. 5. (Mercedes-Benz Group)
The risk is that the 3%-5% margin band still proves optimistic if the China price fight deepens or tariff measures widen again. Currency swings and slower-than-expected cost cuts could also squeeze cash generation, leaving less room for shareholder returns.
Next for investors are the annual report disclosure due March 4, the April 16 annual meeting vote on the dividend, and first-quarter results on April 29. (Mercedes-Benz Group)
