"Time for a Change at Canon?" -Barons

[Jotho]

I have mixed emotions about reviving this thread, but can't resist a bit of "I told you so."

Nikon's first quarter results and projections for the year are out. (See Nikon Rumors). Net profit fell by a jaw-dropping 48%!

Now that those numbers are out, it's a little easier to compare performance of Canon and Nikon. The numbers confirm what I said previously – this particular article was written by a single columnist with an ax to grind against Canon's management.

Demand a change in top leadership at Canon when profits are down 2.4%, while a major competitor's profits are down 48%?

Fact is, Canon is well-managed and doing very well during tough economic times.

And they avoided selling the 5DIII cheap whereas the D800 must not be earning then much money

Desperate means from Nikon of course to sell it at that low price. Will be interesting to see the development of their profits once D800 sales will have larger impact. Also, this will have impact on their overall pricing strategies as they will be held back in trying to get better prices for other models they will launch from now on.

Losing less than one's competitor is an odd sort of "victory" isn't it?  But, yes,  hoooray.

Yes I totally agree, but in this case they are still making profit as I understand it. It's a dangerous route to try to out-price your competition in an R&D heavy industry like this.

[mystic_theory]

I again look at the stocks to judge how well the management runs a company. So, just go to Google Finance, type Canon Inc. (TYO:7751), then compare with Nikon (TYO:7731), and Nikkei 225. The year to date results are:
Canon: -22%; Nikon: +21%; Nikkei 225: -1%.

Despite all the chatter, Nikon is doing much better than Canon in a flat market (so please don't start talking of floods, earthquakes, and nuclear disasters).

My personal opinion (also looking at the quality of the latest products): Canon needs a new management.

[paul13walnut5]

You'll think Apple are doing a great job then?

In 5 years time nobody will buy computers from Apple. 

They've closed the door on the creative professional users who kept them going through the dark days.

And those creative pros will buy PC's next time round that run Adobe CS suite better and for cheaper.

And Samsung may well win a patent battle, or nokia get the nest G network first.

Ask a 1DX owner what Canon are doing wrong.

It's not Sim City.  And to write off the legacy of recent natural disasters is a bit foolish.  Lets look again in 5 years.

And if Nikon make more money... who cares?  If Nikon have more market share... who cares?  They make great cameras which I enjoy using.

[briansquibb]

Share price is a poor indicator of the health of a company