Investing.com - Global construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) saw shares fall in pre-market trade on Thursday after reporting weaker than expected second quarter earnings.
Caterpillar said earnings per share was $1.27 in the second quarter, broadly in line with market expectations and compared with profit per share of $1.57 in the same period a year earlier.
Excluding restructuring costs, profit per share was $1.27, down from $1.69 per share in the second quarter of 2014.
The company’s second quarter revenue totaled $12.32 billion, missing forecasts for revenue of $12.52 billion and down 12.9% from sales of $13.39 billion in the second quarter of 2014.
"Our Caterpillar team continues its track record of solid operational performance in the face of difficult conditions in several of the key industries we serve," said Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman.
He added that, "The economic and industry conditions that were expected at the beginning of the year are occurring. World economic growth is about as the company expected: severe weakness in mining continues, construction-related sales in China and Brazil are lower and new orders for oil-related applications declined."
The 2015 outlook for profit per share is unchanged at $4.70, or $5.00 excluding restructuring costs. The outlook for 2015 sales and revenues is about $49 billion, which is down $1 billion from the previous outlook.
"We originally set the $50 billion sales and revenues estimate in January, and our expectations haven't changed much since then. However, currency impacts from a stronger U.S. dollar are causing sales in many countries to translate into fewer dollars than we initially expected," said Oberhelman.
Caterpillar sounded cautious on its outlook for the global economy saying, "While economic conditions in the United States are modestly positive, the global economy remains relatively stagnant. Many of the key industries we serve remain weak, and we haven't seen sustained signs of improvement. Continuing economic weakness in China and Brazil, as well as uncertainty in the Eurozone and over Greece, haven't helped confidence.
Following the release of the report, shares in Caterpillar lost 2.31% in pre-market trade to hit $77.40 from Wednesday's closing price of $79.74.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock market futures pointed to a flat open. The Dow futures indicated a loss of 0.05% at the open, the S&P 500 futures pointed to a rise of 0.05%, while Nasdaq 100 futures tacked on 0.15%.