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Caterpillar beats estimates
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October 15, 1999: 9:46 a.m. ET
No. 1 earth-moving machine maker says '99 revenue to be lower than expected
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Caterpillar Inc. crawled past Wall Street's third-quarter earnings expectations Friday by a penny a share, but the world's No.1 maker of earth-moving machinery said full-year revenue would be lower than anticipated.
The Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar posted profit of $219 million, or 61 cents per diluted share, well below the $336 million, or 92 cents a share, reported a year earlier.
Analysts polled by First Call Corp. had expected the company to post a profit of 60 cents per share.
The company said the drop in profit was mostly due to lower sales volume, lower price realization and unfavorable change in product sales mix.
"Lower retail sales in several key geographic and industry segments caused a decline in company sales this quarter," said Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Glen Barton. "While sales of large machines remained weak, truck engine sales continued at historic high levels and demand for large reciprocating engines is picking up."
Revenue was $4.72 billion, down 9 percent from the third quarter of 1998. The company said the drop was due primarily to an 8 percent decline in product sales volume, partially offset by a 10-percent increase in Financial Products revenue.
Caterpillar said it expected full-year 1999 revenue to be down about 5 percent from 1998, a projection lower than previous estimates, with profit per share expected to be about $3. The company forecast increases in both sales and profit in 2000, based on its preliminary outlook.
Shares of Caterpillar (CAT) closed down 15/16 Thursday to 55-5/8. 
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Caterpillar
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