While US presidential candidates and Unions continue to beat up on free trade deals as job destroyers, one major US manufacturer in the heart of the rustbelt is boosting its profits by sales overseas:
Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit on Friday as strong international sales more than offset what the company characterized as a "recessionary storm in the United States."
The news sent shares of Caterpillar -- the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, a component of the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) and a U.S. business bellwether -- up as much as 4.7 percent in premarket trade.
Construction booms outside North America, particularly in Russia, Africa and energy-producing regions like the Middle East, boosted results, and the weak U.S. dollar aided the company's competitiveness overseas.
First-quarter profit rose 13 percent to $922 million, or $1.45 a share, from $816 million, or $1.23 a share, a year earlier.
Sales increased 18 percent to $11.8 billion.
Analysts, on average, had expected the Peoria, Illinois-based company earn $1.33 a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
"We continue to see robust demand for products used in the global mining and energy industries and for machines used by our customers to build infrastructure, particularly in emerging markets," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Owens said in a statement.
2 comments:
Bush was speaking with Neil Cavuto the other day, I think it was on the White House lawn. He had some heavy equipment behind him on display to advocate for the Colombian FTA. He pointed to one particularly large tractor with all kinds of wheels and scoop thingies and said it would cost $15,000 less for a Colombian to purchase if the act passed.
The obvious point he was making is more tractors would be sold to Colobmbia, meaning more jobs for Americans and more productivity for the Colombian economy.
It's a no-brainer.
Thanks for this great post! have you read the article "Caterpillar Pushes for Passage of U.S.-Panamanian Trade Promotion Agreement" You must read it very interesting and somewhat surprising.
Cheers,
Gareth
Post a Comment