STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-ABB falls after saying some analysts too optimistic

Shares in ABB (NYSE: ABB - news) fall 1.4 percent to the bottom of Switzerland's blue-chip SMI (KOSDAQ: 100660.KQ - news) index as the engineering company signals its 2014 revenues will be lower than some analysts are expecting.

"...please look closer at your 2014 revenue figures since some of you have still not updated your models for the effect of 2013 lower order intake in some of ABB's longer cycle businesses," the company says in an email to sell-side analysts, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

Orders fell 2 percent to $9.09 billion in the third quarter, slightly below the average forecast in a Reuters poll of analysts, as delays to large-scale projects offset strong growth in China and Germany, two of its biggest markets.

A spokesperson for ABB said the email was part of the company's normal communication with analysts and that it did not give any new information.

While the message broadly reiterates comments made during ABB's third-quarter conference call, it still means current consensus expectations for this year's revenues - $41.8 billion according to StarMine - may come down.

"The slow order flows from last year, particularly Power Systems, should be reflected a little bit more negatively in revenues for future years and that is not in the consensus yet," said Rob Virdee, an analyst at Espirito Santo Investment Bank.

Volume on the stock is higher than its full-day average for the past three months at 1230 GMT, compared to less than a third of the average for the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index and nearly half of the average for the SMI.

Reuters messaging rm://francesco.canepa.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net

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