Analysts have been hanging out for the release of construction-equipment king Caterpillar’s quarterly statement as a glimpse into the faring of the construction sector in these uncertain economic times.
Caterpillar is the world’s largest maker of construction and earth-moving machinery and reporter stronger-than-anticipated earnings this quarter. The company has also raised its full-year forecast, which bodes will for the construction industry at large.
The third quarter profits were up 96 percent from the previous year, posting $792 million over last year’s $404 million. Sales numbers also rose 53 percent to reach $11.13 billion.
Analysts were expecting a $10 billion sales posting, so the company out-performed to the tune of $1 billion, which is great news for the company and was reflected in a share surge of 3.3 percent in premarket trading.
The company now says it expects full-year profit to be in the range of $41 to $42 billion, up from the previous expectation of around $39 billion. "2010 is shaping up to be one of the most significant year-over-year increases in sales and revenues in our history," Caterpillar said in a statement, and also said they expect 2011 to see pre-recession figures of $50 billion.
Caterpillar have said that demand in
developing nations, principally India, China and Indonesia accounted for around
half of the company’s sales in machinery in this quarter, with the increase in
infrastructure projects fueling demand for the construction equipment as well
as for mining machinery.
Caterpillar also took the release of its third quarter profits to bluntly ask the government to increase economic growth.
