Strong pricing boosts Caterpillar profits

Caterpillar reported a jump in profits Thursday as strong pricing for industrial machinery made up for lower volumes, enabling record shareholder payouts.

Executives expect the benefit of the price increases -- which were implemented in the second half of 2023 -- to continue but "moderate" as the year progresses, said Chief Financial officer Andrew Bonfield on a conference call with analysts.

The company sees costs as "broadly flattish" for the year, with lower freight expenses compensating for increases elsewhere, Bonfield said.

Caterpillar, which manufactures and sells equipment for the construction, energy and other heavy industries, reported revenues of $15.8 billion, slightly below the year-ago level.

But profits jumped 47 percent to $2.9 billion.

Chief Executive Jim Umpleby painted a varied picture of key markets, with North America remaining healthy, "mixed" conditions in Latin America and weakness in Europe offset somewhat by strong construction activity in the Middle East.

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The company has seen "some softening" in Asia Pacific outside of China, where conditions have also remained relatively tepid, according to Umpleby.

Caterpillar's earnings press release said the company paid out a "record" $5.1 billion to shareholders in dividends and share repurchases.

Shares of Caterpillar fell 6.5 percent in afternoon trading. The stock was up around 19 percent for the year heading into Thursday.

Source: AFP