Caterpillar Inc. Shares Drop On Lower August Sales Data

Caterpillar Inc.

shares dipped slightly on Friday after the company posted slowing growth in North America and continued sales declines in Asia and Europe. The Peoria, Ill., construction and mining equipment company said worldwide retail sales in August fell 10 percent, compared with a 9 percent decline in July. After strong performance for much of 2014 Caterpillar shares hit a rough patch recently, with a downgrade from Bank of America earlier this month on valuation concerns and a lack of growth that sent shares tumbling 3 percent. http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/14/09/4839689/update-bank-of-america-downgrades-caterpillar-inc The company said Friday its North American sales growth slowed to 8 percent, from 11 percent growth rate in July and 14 percent in June. Sales in Asia plunged 24 percent, but that represented an improvement from 29 percent and 30 percent in June and July. Construction equipment sales fell by 10 percent in Asia, an improvement from declines of 16 percent and 17 percent in July and June respectively. In Europe the rate of decline was essentially unchanged at 2 percent while acceleration declined to 12 percent from 15 percent in July. Mining equipment sales fell more than 40 percent in both Europe and Asia versus declines of about 50 percent in the preceding two months. In North America, the category declined 3 percent. Caterpillar traded recently down 1.3 percent at $102.97 a share. http://www.benzinga.com/analyst-ratings/analyst-color/14/09/4839689/update-bank-of-america-downgrades-caterpillar-inc