Caterpillar Posts Upbeat Q1 Earnings, Raises Earnings Forecast

Shares of

gained over 3 percent in pre-market trading after the company reported upbeat earnings for the first quarter and lifted its profit forecast for the year. For the year, Caterpillar now projects earnings of $5 per share, versus its prior outlook of $4.75 per share. The Peoria, Illinois-based company posted a quarterly profit of $1.11 billion, or $1.81 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $922 billion, or $1.44 per share. Excluding items, the company earned $1.86 per share. Its revenue slipped 4.1 percent to $12.7 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $1.35 per share on revenue of $12.38 billion. Caterpillar's construction sales dropped 7 percent to $4.695 billion for the quarter, while resource industries sales slipped 9 percent to $1.928 billion. Energy and transportation sales came in flat at $4.8 billion in the quarter. Financial products' revenue slipped 3 percent to $795 million in the first quarter. At the end of the quarter, order backlog was $16.5 billion. The average estimate among 36 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.38 per share and revenue of $12.83 billion. "We delivered solid results for the first quarter of this year, including higher profit than in the first quarter of 2014. Our focus on operational improvement, including lean manufacturing and cost management, is helping in what is a tough time for some of our important cyclical businesses. We continue to execute on improving safety, quality, inventory turns, delivery performance and market position," said Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman. Caterpillar shares gained 3.61 percent to $87.93 in pre-market trading.