What to Watch For in Caterpillar’s Q3 Report
Caterpillar is set to report its third-quarter financial results early on Tuesday before the markets open. Analysts are looking for strong top and bottom line growth.
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Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) is set to report its third-quarter financial results early on Tuesday before the markets open. Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates of $2.85 in earnings per share (EPS) and $13.29 billion in revenue. In the same period of last year, the company posted EPS of $1.95 in EPS and $11.41 billion in revenue.
Last month the company reported August retail sales. Total global machine retail sales rose 23% year over year, while energy and transportation sales were up 16% compared with August 2017.
Caterpillar reports machine sales in two segments. Resource industry sales rose 35% worldwide year over year in August, and construction industry sales rose 21%.
The energy and transportation segment includes products like turbines and locomotives for industries such as oil and gas production and power generation. Caterpillar’s global energy and transportation sales rose 16% compared with last August.
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By region, North American sales rose the most, up 29% year over year in August, followed by Asia/Pacific (28%), Latin America (18%) and Europe/Africa/Middle East (9%).
The single biggest increase in August sales came in the company’s Asia/Pacific region, where sales of resource industry (chiefly mining) products rose 77% year over year. The second-largest sales increase also came in sales of resource industry equipment, a 43% sales jump in Latin America.
Caterpillar has underperformed the broad markets over the past 52 weeks, with its stock flat. In just 2018 alone, the stock is down nearly 17%.
A few analysts weighed in on Caterpillar ahead of the report:
- Cleveland Research has a Hold rating.
- Macquarie has a Sell rating.
- Citigroup has an Outperform rating.
- OTR Global has a Positive rating.
- Robert Baird has an Outperform rating with a $158 price target.
- Oppenheimer has a Market Perform rating.
- Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating with a $177 price target.
Shares of Caterpillar were last seen trading at $130.66, with a consensus analyst price target of $167.86 and a 52-week trading range of $129.35 to $173.24.
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Chris Lange is a financial and geopolitical writer with more than a decade of experience covering a myriad of topics. He has published thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St., with past coverage focused heavily on stocks, IPOs, healthcare, defense, global affairs, and technology.
His work has been quoted, or referenced by a number of outlets including Business Insider, USA Today, Yahoo Finance, MSN, The Motley Fool, and many other publications. A graduate of Southwestern University, he studied business with a focus on investments and has previous experience in banking and startups.
When not reading or writing the news, he is following his passion for Lacrosse, playing chess, or building solar projects with his dad.
