US industrial giant Caterpillar said on July 22 that second-quarter profits surged 44 percent from a year ago to $1.01 billion dollars, but the results still fell short of analysts' expectations. Revenues in the April-June period were $14.23 billion, which the company described as an all-time record, and an increase of 37 percent from second-quarter 2010 revenues of $10.40 billion.
Earnings per share came in at $1.72, failing to reach Wall Street analysts' consensus forecasts of $1.79. Shares of Caterpillar fell 5.7 percent in opening trade after the results were released.
Strong sales in Asia and other emerging markets - notably China - helped offset the impact of a weak economic recovery in the United States, chief executive Doug Oberhelman said in a statement. "While we've seen some softening of growth in China, dealer deliveries to end users were up in the second quarter of 2011 compared with the second quarter of last year and grew at a faster rate than the overall industry in China," he said. "In our view, China is doing a good job of balancing growth and inflation, and our expectations for China remain positive."
The March earthquake and tsunami in Japan had a $200-million negative impact on Caterpillar's second-quarter sales and lowered operating profit by around $60 million, Oberhelman said. Shares of Caterpillar, which makes mining and construction equipment, are seen as particularly sensitive to global economic trends.
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