Construction equipment company Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) will be reporting results tomorrow before the bell. Here’s what investors should know.
Caterpillar missed analysts’ revenue expectations by 1.1% last quarter, reporting revenues of $16.11 billion, down 4.2% year on year. It was a softer quarter for the company, with a significant miss of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.
Is Caterpillar a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Caterpillar’s revenue to decline 3.1% year on year to $16.55 billion, a reversal from the 2.8% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $5.04 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings.
Looking at Caterpillar’s peers in the heavy machinery segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Lindsay delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 3.1%, meeting analysts’ expectations, and Greenbrier reported revenues up 8.3%, topping estimates by 3.1%. Lindsay traded up 4.9% following the results while Greenbrier was also up 3.7%.
Read our full analysis of Lindsay’s results here and Greenbrier’s results here.
There has been positive sentiment among investors in the heavy machinery segment, with share prices up 3.5% on average over the last month. Caterpillar is up 7.5% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $392.79 (compared to the current share price of $390.43).
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