Siemens (SIEGY) shares hit a record high on Wednesday after the German engineering group posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and lifted its 2017 forecasts. 

Siemens said it expects a 2017 profit margin in the 11% to 12% range, a 50-basis-point improvement at the top end, and earnings per share for the full year in the range of €7.20 to €7.70, up from a previous forecast of €6.80 to €7.20. 

"With a strong first quarter and a considerably raised outlook for fiscal 2017, we are sending a clear signal," said CEO Joe Kaeser. " I am proud of my global Siemens team that has been working hard and has delivered convincing success.  We will continue to rigorously execute our strategy program Vision 2020 to even further strengthen our innovation power and customer proximity." 

Siemens shares rose 4.4% in early Frankfurt trading to change hands at an all-time high of €121.60 each, extending the three-month gain to more than 17%. 

Siemens said profits at the industrial group level came in at €2.51 billion for the three months ending in December, its fiscal first quarter, well ahead of the Thomson Reuters forecast of €2.14 billion.  The bottom line offset a 14% drop in orders, to €19.6 billion, as the group booked fewer larger contracts.  Revenue grew 1% from the same period last year, the company said, to €19.1 billion

"We anticipate increasing headwinds for macroeconomic growth and investment sentiment in our markets due to the complex geopolitical environment," the company said. " Therefore, we continue to expect modest growth in revenue, net of effects from currency translation and portfolio transactions.  We further continue to anticipate that orders will exceed revenue for a book-to-bill ratio above 1.02." 

The reference to politics was fleshed out by Kaeser ahead of the company's AGM Wednesday in Munich in which the CEO said he was "worried" about developments in the United States. 

"The new American president has a style that's different from what we're accustomed to," Kaeser said. " It worries us, what we see.  But it's a great country." 

"The country has a tradition of openness, freedom, integration," Kaeser added. " It would be a terrible shame if ... one would give this up only because one thinks one would guarantee security."