Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is set to report its third-quarter financial results early on Tuesday before the markets open. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $2.85 in earnings per share (EPS) and $13.29 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, the company posted EPS of $1.95 in EPS and $11.41 billion in revenue.
Last month the company reported August retail sales. Total global machine retail sales rose 23% year over year, while energy and transportation sales were up 16% compared with August 2017.
Caterpillar reports machine sales in two segments. Resource industry sales rose 35% worldwide year over year in August, and construction industry sales rose 21%.
The energy and transportation segment includes products like turbines and locomotives for industries such as oil and gas production and power generation. Caterpillar’s global energy and transportation sales rose 16% compared with last August.
By region, North American sales rose the most, up 29% year over year in August, followed by Asia/Pacific (28%), Latin America (18%) and Europe/Africa/Middle East (9%).
The single biggest increase in August sales came in the company’s Asia/Pacific region, where sales of resource industry (chiefly mining) products rose 77% year over year. The second-largest sales increase also came in sales of resource industry equipment, a 43% sales jump in Latin America.
Caterpillar has underperformed the broad markets over the past 52 weeks, with its stock flat. In just 2018 alone, the stock is down nearly 17%.
A few analysts weighed in on Caterpillar ahead of the report:
- Cleveland Research has a Hold rating.
- Macquarie has a Sell rating.
- Citigroup has an Outperform rating.
- OTR Global has a Positive rating.
- Robert Baird has an Outperform rating with a $158 price target.
- Oppenheimer has a Market Perform rating.
- Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating with a $177 price target.
Shares of Caterpillar were last seen trading at $130.66, with a consensus analyst price target of $167.86 and a 52-week trading range of $129.35 to $173.24.
In 20 Years, I Haven’t Seen A Cash Back Card This Good
After two decades of reviewing financial products I haven’t seen anything like this. Credit card companies are at war, handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers.
A good cash back card can be worth thousands of dollars a year in free money, not to mention other perks like travel, insurance, and access to fancy lounges.
Our top pick today pays up to 5% cash back, a $200 bonus on top, and $0 annual fee. Click here to apply before they stop offering rewards this generous.
Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.
You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.