Caterpillar Announces Q4 Results; Shares Touch a 52-week High
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) shares today touched a 52-week high after the company announced its fourth-quarter financial results.
Caterpillar today announced its fourth quarter and full year results 2010, with revenues of $42.588 billion for full year, an increase of 31 percent from $32.396 billion in the previous year. The profit was $2.700 billion, an increase of 202 percent from previous year’s profit of $895 million. The profit per share was $4.15 was up from $1.43 in the previous year. Excluding redundancy costs, profit per share in previous year was $2.18. The fourth-quarter sales and revenues were $12.807 billion, an increase of 62 percent compared with $7.898 billion in the comparable period previous year. The fourth-quarter profit of $968 million was 317 percent higher than profit of $232 million in the comparable period previous year. The profit per share of $1.47 was up from $0.36 per share in the comparable period previous year. Excluding redundancy costs, profit for the comparable period previous year was $0.41 per share.
The company expects sales and revenues in 2011 to exceed $50 billion and profit to be near $6.00 per share. That is an increase from sales and revenues of $42.588 billion and profit of $4.15 per share in 2010. The outlook for 2011 includes the acquisition of Electro-Motive Diesel and does not include the acquisitions of Motoren-Werke Mannheim Holding or Bucyrus International as they have not yet closed.
Also recently, the company announced it plans to open a new manufacturing facility in Thailand. The company will break ground on the new factory in early 2011, with production scheduled to begin in late 2012. The facility is expected to produce a full range of underground mining articulated trucks and loaders, which are used by Caterpillar customers around the world in hard-rock underground mining applications.
Caterpillar shares are currently trading 1.18% higher at $96.88. The stock opened at $97.10 today and touched a 52-week high of $97.79 in mid-day trading. Caterpillar shares are trading on above average volume of 9.17 million today.
Caterpillar shares have traded in the range of $50.50-$97.79 during the last 52 weeks. The stock has gained more than 80% in the last one year.
Caterpillar provides construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines. The company operates primarily through three lines of business including, Machinery, Engines and Financial Products.
