Investing.com - Global construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar (N:CAT) saw shares gain in pre-market trade on Thursday after reporting better than expected fourth quarter earnings.
Caterpillar said adjusted earnings per share was 74 cents in the three months ended December 31, above expectations for adjusted earnings of 69 cents per share and compared with $1.35 per share in the year-ago period.
Including restructuring costs, the company lost 15 cents per share, down from a profit of $1.23 per share in the fourth quarter of 2014.
The company’s fourth quarter revenue totaled $11.03 billion, just below forecasts for revenue of $11.42 billion and down 22.5% from sales of $14.2 billion in the same period a year earlier.
"Cost management, restructuring actions and operational execution are helping the company while sales and revenues remain under pressure from weak commodity prices and slowing economic growth in developing countries,” said Caterpillar Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman.
The outlook for 2016 sales and revenues does not anticipate improvement in world economic growth or commodity prices. Sales and revenues are expected to be in a range of $40 to $44 billion a mid-point of $42 billion.
The mid-point of the range reflects a decline of about $3.5 billion from last October's preliminary outlook for 2016 sales and revenues and a year-over-year decline of about 10%, largely a result of continued declines in commodity prices and economic weakness in developing countries.
The profit outlook for 2016 is $3.50 per share at the mid-point of the sales and revenues range.
Following the release of the report, shares in Caterpillar jumped $1.91, or 3.27%, in pre-market trade to hit $60.25 from Wednesday's closing price of $58.34.
Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open. The Dow futures rose 9 points, or 0.06%, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 4 points, or 0.2%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 30 points, or 0.72%.