Shares of Caterpillar Inc.
CAT,
climbed 3.2 into record territory in premarket trading Monday, after the maker of construction and mining equipment reported fourth-quarter profit that rose well above forecasts, with particular strength in its energy and transportation business. Net income jumped to $2.68 billion, or $5.28 a share, from $1.45 billion, or $2.79 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $5.23 beat the FactSet consensus of $4.76. Revenue grew 2.8% to $17.07 billion, just above the FactSet consensus of $17.06 billion. Construction industries sales fell 5% to $6.85 billion, just below expectations of $6.88 billion; resource industries sales declined 6% to $3.44 billion but were above expectations of $3.29 billion; and energy and transportation sales rose 12% to $6.82 billion to beat forecasts of $6.7 billion. Operating profit margin improved to 18.4% from 10.1%. The stock has soared 30.9% over the past three months through Friday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has advanced 13.5%.
