Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) beat most Wall St. expectations, and improved its guidance for the balance of 2009. The news pushed the stock up before the open of trading.
CAT said it had a Q3 profit of $.64 per share, down $.75 per share from the third quarter of 2008. Revenue of $7.298 billion was down 44% from $12.981 billion in the third quarter of 2008.
Caterpillar forecast 2009 sales and revenues of $32 to $33 billion. The 2009 profit outlook range was upped to $1.10 to $1.30 per share compared to the previous range of $.40 to $1.50 per share. The 2009 profit outlook includes redundancy costs of about $.75 per share. Excluding redundancy costs, the profit forecast for 2009 is $1.85 to $2.05 per share compared to the previous range of $1.15 to $2.25 per share.
CAT’s outlook for 2010 sales and revenues is an increase of 10% to 25% from the midpoint of the 2009 outlook range, in part driven by the end of dealer inventory reductions which significantly affected sales in 2009.
Douglas A. McIntyre
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