PEORIA (dpa-AFX) - Mining and agricultural equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) on Thursday reported a 5 percent increase in profit for the first quarter from last year, as a tight control on costs helped offset the impact of flat sales.
Both earnings and revenues topped Wall Street estimates. Looking ahead to fiscal 2014, the company raised its fiscal earnings outlook, while affirming its sales forecast.
Doug Oberhelman, chairman and chief executive officer of Caterpillar said, 'We're lowering costs, improving cash flow and driving value for our customers through the continued deployment of our lean manufacturing initiatives. We see the benefits of these actions in our first-quarter results and in improving market position for many of our products.'
Caterpillar's profit attributable to common stockholders for the first quarter increased to $922 million or $1.44 per share from $880 million or $1.31 per share in the year-ago period. The latest quarter's results include a negative impact of $0.17 per share for previously announced restructuring activities.
Excluding restructuring costs, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $1.61 per share, compared to $1.32 per share in the same period last year.
On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.24 per share for the quarter. Analysts estimates typically exclude special items.
Total sales and revenues for the quarter were $13.24 billion, almost flat with the year-ago period figure of $13.21 billion. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $13.14 billion.
Machinery, Energy and Transportation segment sales for the quarter edged up to $12.49 billion from $12.48 billion in the year-ago period.
The company noted that higher revenues in Construction Industries and Energy & Transportation were offset by a 37 percent decline in revenues at Resource Industries.
Caterpillar's operating costs for the quarter declined 1 percent from the prior-year period to $11.84 billion.
Looking ahead to fiscal 2014, Caterpillar raised its outlook for profit excluding restructuring costs to $6.10 per share from the prior outlook of $5.85 per share.
The company continues to anticipate restructuring costs of about $0.55 per share. Including the restructuring costs, the company now forecasts earnings of $5.55 per share, up from the prior outlook of $5.30 per share.
Caterpillar continues to expect full-year sales and revenues to be similar to 2013, about $56 billion in a range of plus or minus 5 percent. However, the company noted that a range of macro-economic and geo-political uncertainties that could slow the growth of global GDP and impact the sales of Caterpillar's products in 2014.
Street expects earnings of $5.93 per share for the year on revenues of $56.18 billion.
Caterpillar said its expectations for Construction Industries has improved, while its expectations for Resource Industries have declined. The company now expects Construction Industries' sales will increase about 10 percent from 2013, up from the previous expectation for an increase of about 5 percent.
Separately, Cat Financial, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caterpillar, said first-quarter profit after tax declined 4 percent to $136 million from $141 million in the year-ago period.
Revenues for the quarter grew 5 percent from the year-ago period to $713 million, primarily due to a $23 million favorable impact from higher average earning assets and an $8 million favorable impact from returned or repossessed equipment.
CAT is trading at $106.28, up $2.90 or 2.80 percent on a volume of 3.42 million shares.
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