CAT Caterpillar Inc

By Joshua Jamerson 

Caterpillar Inc., suffering from years of declining sales and soft demand for its bright yellow machines, said it is seeing signs of recovery in several of the industries it serves and boosted its revenue and profit forecasts for the year.

The bullish take from Caterpillar comes after the company on Monday reported in a regulatory filing that retail sales world-wide increased 1% during the three months ended in March, the first increase since 2012. The company said Tuesday its results for the first three months of the year marked the first time sales and revenue grew year-over-year in more than two years.

Shares, which have climbed more than 4% so far this year, added another 6.2% premarket.

The Peoria, Ill.-based heavy-equipment giant has been slashing costs amid sliding sales, as miners shelved equipment-buying plans as commodity prices fell, and the oil bust in 2014 weakened demand for related equipment. But on Tuesday the company raised its revenue outlook to a range of $38 billion to $41 billion, up from its range given in January of between $36 billion and $39 billion.

"There are encouraging signs," said Chief Executive Jim Umpleby. He said there is promising activity in many of the markets Caterpillar serves. But he also warned that there is "uncertainty across the globe, potential for volatility in commodity prices, and weakness in key markets."

Mr. Umpleby added that the company's results show it is reaping the benefits of cost cuts and restructuring, which he said have improved cash flow and helped strengthen the balance sheet.

Caterpillar also said it now anticipates restructuring costs of about $1.25 billion in 2017, about $750 million higher than previously expected, primarily due to manufacturing facility consolidations.

Caterpillar now sees profit per-share coming in near $3.75, excluding restructuring costs, much better than its prior guidance of $2.90.

Over all for the first quarter, Caterpillar reported a profit of $192 million, or 32 cents a share, compared with $271 million, or 46 cents a share a year ago. Excluding restructuring costs, the company said it earned $1.28 a share. Total sales and revenues rose to $9.82 billion from $9.46 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters anticipated per-share earnings of 62 cents on revenue of $9.27 billion.

Write to Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2017 09:00 ET (13:00 GMT)

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Jun 2024 bis Jul 2024

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT)
Historical Stock Chart
Von Jul 2023 bis Jul 2024