I am puzzled by the reliance on financial stability.
You shouldn't be. It's an intelligent angle - one of many when evaluating a substantial camera investment.
Seven years ago, less time than you want the company yo choose to be stable into an uncertain future, few would have given Leica much chance of survival in any meaningful way.
That may be your 'take', but I have owned and used Leica's for a long time, much longer than 7 years, and I can assure you that thought never crossed my mind.
Nikon is more vulnerable than most, despite having the 8 series which in global terms is selling tiny volumes, they are buying into other technologies as unlike Canon they are not currently as diversified.
Zero chance of Nikon failing in the next 10 years.
The thought that any published financial results are presenting an accurate and unbiased report on the company concerned is fanciful.
Both accurate and
particularly unbiased - that's what financial statements are , snapshots of the financial state of a company at any point in time. If they're not then that you're into the domain of fraudulent filings (such as Olympus) and all that that entails .. don't think we need to go there, yet.
We argue enough about "facts" as presented by DxO mark for example without adding financial analysis to the forum.
IMHO camera, and lens, choice should be based on what you see, and what you feel, for the result and the shooting process, I'm in the Cooter camp
If you'd read the Phase One financials before the SilverFleet announcement you would have seen clearly, in B&W, that Phase had less than a year to go before they would have been forced to declare the Danish equivalent of Chapter 11. Not relevant to a $40,000+ investment ?
Reality is that over the last few years, there has been consolidation and alliances in the photo industry - Leica/Blackstone, Phase One/SilverFleet, Hasselblad/VMC(Ventizz), Sony/Olympus; alliances such as Sony/Zeiss, Panasonic/Leica and now, as of Photokina - Phase One/Sony/Alpa. So yes, judging the direction and trend of each alliance does have a bearing as to which camp you join.
Given that some, on this site, still confuse Private Equity with Venture Capital doesn't mean that financial analysis is inappropriate - far from it. As MR recently posted in another thread ..
" One can either look at these things from a global business / economic perspective or as a fanboy of a particular brand. The latter approach won't get much sympathy from me here. "