Here are Aapeli’s pre-report comments as KONE publishes its Q3 report on Thursday. 
We expect the company’s revenue to have grown slightly despite currency headwinds, and the positive margin trend to have continued. Correspondingly, we expect reported orders to be roughly on par with the comparison period. In connection with the report, besides the figures, our particular interest will be in more detailed market comments, also looking ahead to next year.
Q3 published:
Strong growth in orders received, profitability continued to improve
July-September 2025
Business outlook for 2025 (specified)
KONE estimates its sales growth to be 3-5% at comparable exchange rates in 2025. The adjusted operating income margin is estimated to be between 11.9% and 12.3%. Assuming that exchange rates remain at the October 2025 level, their negative impact on adjusted operating income would be approximately EUR 30 million.
Previously, KONE estimated sales to grow by 2-5% at comparable exchange rates in 2025. The improvement in the adjusted operating income margin was estimated to be between 11.8% and 12.4%. Assuming that exchange rates would remain at the July 2025 level, their negative impact on adjusted operating income was estimated to be approximately EUR 50 million.
Aapeli has written his quick comment on KONE’s morning results.
KONE published its Q3 report this morning. The Q3 result was quite well in line with both our and consensus expectations, while orders received slightly exceeded expectations. As expected, the company made only minor clarifications to its guidance. We will update our forecasts and views on the company by Monday at the latest.
Aapeli has prepared a new company report following KONE’s Q3 results.
KONE’s Q3 results were quite well in line with both our and consensus expectations, while received orders slightly exceeded expectations. The company’s current year guidance also remained practically unchanged, with the exception of a slight positive revision to the revenue guidance. Reflecting this, forecast changes also remained marginal. With the share price increase, we see the stock as fully priced and reiterate our reduce recommendation, but we revise our target price to 56 euros (previously 55 euros) due to our slightly increased forecasts.
Quoted from the report:
The background drivers for the guidance remained unchanged, as the key drivers for revenue, according to the company, are positive outlooks in maintenance and modernization businesses, as well as a solid order book. Corresponding drivers for profitability include growth in maintenance and modernization revenue and initiated efficiency programs. Pressure continues to come from new construction solutions in China, a slight decrease in order intake margins for 2024, and the limited impact of tariffs. Based on comments, however, the impact of tariffs has been quite minor.
Ilkka Sinervä has written about Kone’s competitors.
The share prices of the global elevator trio – Kone, American Otis, and Swiss Schindler – have mostly stagnated after three quarterly earnings releases. The companies’ outlook for the current year is cautiously positive, but China’s boost is not expected to return to the demand for new equipment.
Stock market circles may have paid too little attention to the sharp decline in sales of new elevators and escalators, which fell for all three elevator companies in June–September.
New elevators and escalators always bring with them more orders for modernizations and maintenance. Kone, in particular, has succeeded in leveraging its previous order boom in China and has grown its service sales more strongly than its competitors.
Kone had an analyst call yesterday, here are @Aapeli_Pursimo’s comments on it:Tutut teemat esillä KONEen analyytikkopuhelussa - Inderes
Here is Aapeli’s preview, as KONE reports its Q4 results on Friday.
We expect the company’s positive margin trend to have continued, supported by growth in maintenance and modernization services. We estimate reported orders, for their part, to have been slightly above the comparison period. The focus of the report will be particularly on the guidance given for 2026 and more detailed market comments.
October-December 2025
January-December 2025
The growth in orders is sweet for the market, but from a stock picker’s perspective, this is already quite “challengingly priced,” as always. At today’s share price, the dividend yield is under 3%.
Here are Aapeli’s quick comments on KONE’s Q4 results
KONE released its Q4 report this morning. The Q4 result was well in line with both our and consensus expectations, while orders received exceeded expectations. The guidance provided for 2026, for its part, met expectations quite well in our view.
Here is Aapeli’s company report on KONE after Q4.
We reiterate our Reduce recommendation for KONE and our 56 euro target price. The company’s Q4 result was in line with expectations, while orders received exceeded forecasts. The guidance provided for this year was fairly well in line with our expectations, although the lower ends of the guidance ranges appeared cautious in our view. We estimate that the guidance came as a slight disappointment to the market after the recent share price rise. Following the report, we made only minor negative revisions to our forecasts. In our opinion, the valuation of the share is currently on the tight side, and despite the good earnings growth outlook for the coming years, we estimate that the risk-adjusted expected return remains insufficient.
Here is a piece by Ilkka Sinervä about Kone and its competitors, especially Otis.
Swiss company Schindler, which is neck-and-neck with Kone in terms of revenue and profitability, has not yet released its results for last year, but the company’s share price also dipped by less than one percent.
Asset management veteran Hannu Angervuo classifies elevator companies’ market values and current share price levels as expensive, given P/E ratios in the 23–29 range.
”Elevator companies are expensive compared to earnings. Of course, the companies send increasing maintenance bills to customers every year. But AI giant Nvidia is a cheaper buy relative to its earnings and growth than elevator companies,” Angervuo adds.
Subheadings:
I’ll post this here, even though most forum members have already spotted the news. KONE is starting change negotiations in Finland, affecting operations at the Hyvinkää factory + R&D. Approximately 840 employees are within the scope of the negotiations, with a reduction need of at most 70 positions. The background for this is a structural change in the new equipment business as well as the need to streamline operations and improve competitiveness.
The transition toward becoming a maintenance and service company is progressing. There are fewer and fewer markets for the new equipment business while the Chinese economy is stalled, and India and others are unable to compensate for it. Is Kone gradually becoming a globally operating Lassila-Tikanoja? Let’s hope that the margin levels in the service business remain stable. Significant local competitors will eventually emerge there as well, even in China—this has happened in other industries too.