Caterpillar cuts forecast for 2013

Firm cites ‘painful year’ for sales, mining-industry uncertainty

Caterpillar Inc. side booms carry a section of pipe next to a trench during construction of the Flanagan South crude oil pipeline outside of Goodfield, Ill., earlier this month. Caterpillar on Wednesday reported a third-quarter profit of $946 million.
Caterpillar Inc. side booms carry a section of pipe next to a trench during construction of the Flanagan South crude oil pipeline outside of Goodfield, Ill., earlier this month. Caterpillar on Wednesday reported a third-quarter profit of $946 million.

Caterpillar Inc., the biggest maker of construction and mining equipment, cut its 2013 sales and profit forecast Wednesday and said revenue will be little changed next year after a slump in orders from commodity producers.

Earnings will fall to about $5.50 a share on sales of $55 billion this year, the Peoria, Ill.-based company said in a statement. In July, it forecast per-share profit of about $6.50on sales of $56 billion to $58 billion.

Revenue in 2014 will be in a range of 5 percent lower to 5 percent higher than this year because of “very low” mining machinery orders and uncertainties over global economic growth, it said.

Caterpillar said demand from the mining industry has been difficult to forecast this year after customers decided to focus on existing projects instead of new mines. BHP Billion Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group are among mining companies that have cut billions of dollars of capital expenditure this year. Caterpillar said it fired more than 13,000 workers in the past year as it adjusted output.

“It has been a painful year and has required wide ranging and substantial actions across the company,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman said in the statement. “There are encouraging signs, but there is also a good deal of uncertainty worldwide as we look ahead to 2014.”

Caterpillar shares fell $5.41, or 6.1 percent, to close Wednesday at $83.76. Earlier it touched $83.75, the biggest intraday decline since January 2012.

“The implied fourth-quarter guidance is certainly weaker than expected and the flat outlook for next year was expected but now it’s on a lower base, which is not exactly encouraging,” said Larry De Maria, a New York-based analyst for William Blair & Co. who has a buy rating on the shares. “The stock ran up into the report but now it’s going to settle back down on concerns about the outlook.”

Third-quarter net income was a lower-than-expected $946 million, or $1.45 a share, down from $1.7 billion, or $2.54 a share, a year ago. That missed the $1.67 average of 20 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales in the period declined to $13.4 billion from $16.4 billion, less than the $14.5 billion average of 12 estimates.

The company’s inventory continued to decline in the third quarter, mainly in mining equipment, and was about $500 million lower than in the preceding quarter.

Caterpillar has focused on the mining industry since Oberhelman became chairman and CEO in 2010. The company bought Bucyrus International Inc. in 2011 and ERA Mining Machinery Ltd. in China last year to expand its mining-product range.

Analysts on average expect capital spending plans for major mining companies to fall 16 percent in 2013 and as much as 12 percent in the next two years, Bloomberg Industries analyst Karen Ubelhart said in a report on Oct. 15.

Miners “need to see commodity pricing and the supply and demand environment firm up for a sustained period before they contemplate a major expansion,” said Matt Arnold, a St. Louis-based analyst for Edward Jones & Co. who recommends holding Caterpillar shares.

While mining orders are down, construction-machinery demand is improving. Next year, Caterpillar’s construction industries unit’s sales will rise while revenue in the power systems business will be little changed, the company said Wednesday.

The company reported Tuesday for the 10th-consecutive month that rolling global three-month retail machine sales fell, led by declines in the Asia-Pacific region.

Resource industries and power systems each accounted for 32 percent of Caterpillar’s equipment sales last year while construction made up 29 percent.

Caterpillar operates a road grader assembly plant in North Little Rock.

Business, Pages 27 on 10/24/2013

Upcoming Events