Caterpillar Reports Record Quarterly Profit; Sales and Revenues Increase 57 Percent

Driven by the continuing improvement in global demand for its products and its focus on cost management, Caterpillar Inc. reported first-quarter 2011 profit per share of $1.84 — an all-time quarterly record and a 411-percent improvement from $0.36 in the first quarter of 2010. First-quarter sales and revenues of $12.949 billion were up 57 percent from $8.238 billion in the first quarter of 2010. Profit was a record $1.225 billion in the quarter, an increase of 426 percent from $233 million in the first quarter of 2010.
 
“I am very pleased with our first-quarter results — demand continued to improve, we increased production, cost control was excellent and our operating profit margin improved. We generated more than $1.6 billion of operating cash flow from our Machinery and Power Systems (M&PS) businesses, an increase of more than 50 percent, and our debt-to-capital ratio dropped more than 4 percentage points from year-end 2010,” said chairman and CEO Doug Oberhelman. “We have the right strategy, and it’s squarely focused on helping our customers win. Our new organization is in place, is focused on execution and is getting the job done. Given the scale of the volume ramp-up over the past year we also need to recognize the tremendous job that our suppliers and dealers have done to support us and our customers.”

 
“While we posted great financial results for the quarter, we were saddened by the disaster that struck Japan following the earthquake and tsunami in early March. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people in Japan who have been impacted by this disaster, including those at one Cat dealer, where two employees perished in the tsunami.  I want to recognize and thank our employees in Japan, along with Caterpillar employees around the world, our suppliers and dealers as they have worked tirelessly to minimize the impact on our operations from the disaster,” Oberhelman added.

First-quarter profit was $1.225 billion compared with a profit of $233 million in the first quarter of 2010.  The improvement in profit was primarily a result of significantly higher sales volume. Price realization was favorable, but the impact was more than offset by higher manufacturing, selling, general and administrative (SG&A) and research and development (R&D) expenses. In addition, $90 million of the improvement was due to the absence of a tax charge from the first quarter of 2010 related to enactment of U.S. health care legislation. 

Outlook       
The outlook for 2011 has improved. Sales and revenues are now expected to be in a range of $52 to $54 billion and profit in a range of $6.25 to $6.75 per share. The previous 2011 outlook was for sales and revenues to exceed $50 billion and for profit to be near $6.00 per share. The revised outlook reflects higher expected sales and revenues and higher profit per share than our previous record year of 2008 when sales and revenues were $51.3 billion and profit per share was $5.66. However, the outlook does not include the acquisitions of MWM Holding GmbH or Bucyrus International Inc. because they have not yet closed.

“As I recently told investors at our analyst meeting at the ConExpo trade show in Las Vegas — we’re on a roll and in a hurry. We have a great strategy, and we’re off to a good start, but we have room to improve and more to do to reach our goals for 2015,” said Oberhelman.