Lincoln Electric falls after CEO discusses ‘continued deceleration’

Lincoln Electric CEO Steven Hedlund said earlier at the Stifel London Industrials Summit: “As we started the third quarter in July, we saw a continued deceleration in the business in July. August is a very difficult month for us to call. There’s, as you well know, a lot of vacations and holidays in Europe. There’s a lot of shutdowns in other parts of the world. So August is very tough for us to read. If September were to continue at the same pace, though, we would be looking at a further slowing in the business that would drop our full-year organic growth estimates to be now in the mid to high single-digit declines for the business. So that’s what we’re seeing as we sit today.” Shares of Lincoln Electric are down 5% to $177.74 in morning trading.