h*****8 发帖数: 4754 | 1 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-29/caterpillar-boosts-201
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), the world’s largest maker of construction equipment
, posted first-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates and raised
its full-year earnings forecast as sales surged in developing countries.
Net income rose more than fivefold to $1.23 billion, or $1.84 a share, from
$233 million, or 36 cents, a year earlier, the Peoria, Illinois-based
company said in a statement today. The average estimate of 21 analysts in a
Bloomberg survey was $1.31 a share. Sales rose to 57 percent to $12.9
billion from $8.24 billion.
Full-year earnings will be $6.25 to $6.75 a share on $52 billion to $54
billion of revenue, not including income from the acquisitions of MWM
Holding GmbH and Bucyrus International Inc. The previous forecast was profit
“near” $6 on sales of more than $50 billion. Earnings will be $6.30 on
sales of $51.9 billion, according to average estimates in the Bloomberg
survey.
Caterpillar is betting on higher mining-equipment sales with its $8.6
billion acquisition of Bucyrus as Asian demand drives up commodity prices.
The Bucyrus deal is expected to be complete in mid-2011. Business outside
the U.S. is “booming,” Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman told
investors and analysts at the CONEXPO-CON/AGG construction-equipment
conference in Las Vegas last month.
“People are focused on guidance,” Ted Grace, an analyst for Susquehanna
Financial Group, which is a market maker for Caterpillar, said in an
interview before the earnings.
“Margins will be hugely important,” said Grace, who has a “positive”
rating on the stock. “That’s been a key point of debate on Caterpillar:
How efficiently is the company ramping up profits to volume?”
The company’s earnings were little changed during the last surge in demand
when sales rose 24 percent from 2006 through 2008.
The company aims to deliver earnings of $8 to $10 a share in 2012 as demand
for excavators, trucks and wheel loaders increases amid greater consumption
of commodities and construction of roads, bridges and buildings in countries
such as China, India and Brazil.
Caterpillar rose 3 cents to $112.64 in New York Stock Exchange composite
trading yesterday. The shares have climbed 20 percent this year, the best
performer after Boeing Co. on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at
s******[email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@
bloomberg.net |
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