Raw Japan

Japan earnings: How low can they go?

For a company to be losing a lot of money is hardly surprising these days, but I was shocked last week when Hitachi said it would lose 700 billion yen this year, the biggest loss ever by a Japanese manufacturer.

Investors were also shocked, sending shares down 17 pecent the next trading day, wiping out $1.9 billion in market value.

The loss forecast, reaffirmed Tuesday, underscores how quickly the financial crisis is spreading from the banking sector to every corner of the world’s No.2 economy.

For investors watching Japan, the question is whether Hitachi represents the worst or the start of worse things to come. The answer lies in how soon companies restructure and shrink costs to match the new reality.