Caterpillar (CAT) delivered higher fourth-quarter results on a yearly basis with earnings surpassing market expectations, aided by double-digit growth in its energy and transportation business. The heavy equipment manufacturer on Monday reported adjusted earnings of $5.23 a share for the December quarter, up from $3.86 the year before, and ahead of the Capital IQ-polled consensus of $4.75. Sales and revenue increased 3% to $17.07 billion, but were just shy of the Street’s view for $17.13 billion. Shares of the company jumped 4.6% in premarket trading. Caterpillar posted “record full-year sales and revenues, record adjusted profit per share and record (machinery, energy and transportation) free cash flow,” Chief Executive Jim Umpleby said in a statement. “We remain committed to serving our customers, executing our strategy and investing for long-term profitable growth.” Machinery, energy and transportation revenue grew 2% to $16.24 billion. Energy and transportation climbed 12% to $7.67 billion, mainly due

Caterpillar CEO Says Overall Demand Remains Healthy Across Most Of Our End Markets For Our Products And Services; Says In Asia Pacific, Excluding China, We Are Seeing Some Softening In Economic Conditions.

CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows: Shares are trading higher pre-market following CAT’s Q4 print, with the company beating EPS expectations and providing upbeat guidance for 2024. We lift our price target to $360 from $345, valuing shares at 16.1x our 2025 EPS outlook (initiated at $22.35; 2024 EPS adjusted to $21.41 from $21.15), in line with CAT’s historical forward average. CAT posts Q4 operating EPS of $5.23 vs. $3.86 (+35% Y/Y), surpassing the consensus forecast of $4.75. As expected, Y/Y sales growth cooled into the single-digits (+3%), led by a 12% increase in Energy & Transportation sales. Improved profitability drove earnings expansion during Q4, with adj-operating margins widening to 18.9% (+190 bps) on favorable price realization, manufacturing costs, and absence of a goodwill impairment. CAT’s 2024 outlook implies stabilization of dealer inventories

Caterpillar CFO Says Price Increases Will Exceed Manufacturing Costs For The Year.

Caterpillar dealers cut their inventories by $900 million in 4Q, accounting for much of the sales decline in construction and mining equipment during the quarter. The decrease in inventories follows a $700 million increase in 3Q inventories. Caterpillar says it does not expect a “significant change” in dealer inventories in 2024. Dealers stocked more equipment in recent years because supply-chain problems created long lead times for filling orders. As the company’s factory output improves, dealers are finding they can get equipment faster and need to hold less equipment, CEO Jim Umpleby tells analysts.