Caterpillar Inc.'s (CAT) first-quarter profit soared to a
record-setting level as sales surged across all types of machinery
and power systems and margins grew.
Shares rose 2.1% to $115.01 in recent premarket trading as the
results handily topped Wall Street's views and the company boosted
its current-year earnings forecast to $6.25 to $6.75 a share from
its previous prediction of approximately $6.
It forecast revenue of $52 billion to $54 billion, compared with
its previous expectation of the top line exceeding $50 billion.
The increased guidance was tempered by last month's earthquake
in Japan, which has impacted many of the company's suppliers.
Caterpillar said it expects the disaster to cuts its current-year
sales by about $300 million and operating profit by $100
million.
The world's largest construction equipment manufacturer by sales
has continued to report improving financial performance amid
ongoing evidence of recovery in the sector. Last month it said it
will spend $5 billion by 2015 to increase production capacity
because of prolonged global demand for construction machinery.
In November, Caterpillar agreed to acquire mining-equipment
maker Bucyrus International Inc. (BUCY) for $7.6 billion, the
largest acquisition in its history.
Caterpillar reported a profit of $1.23 billion, or $1.84 a
share, up from $233 million, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue jumped 57% to $12.95 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently forecast a
profit of $1.31 on $11.69 billion in revenue.
Gross margin widened to 30.1% from 28.5%.
Construction industries revenue, the largest top-line
contributor, jumped 71% while power systems sales were up 51%.
-By Matt Jarzemsky, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2240;
matthew.jarzemsky@dowjones.com