What does the company do?
Caterpillar Inc. (Caterpillar) operates in three principal lines of business: Machinery, Engines and Financial Products. Machinery deals with the design, manufacture, marketing and sales of construction, mining and forestry machinery. Engines business deals with the design, manufacture, marketing and sales of engines. Financial Products, consists primarily of Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation (Cat Financial), Caterpillar Insurance Holdings, Inc. (Cat Insurance), Caterpillar Power Ventures Corporation (Cat Power Ventures) and their respective subsidiaries. In April 2008, Satyam Computer Services Limited acquired Caterpillar’s market research and customer analytics operations. In April 2008, Caterpillar expanded its Global Mining business through the acquisition of Lovat Inc. (Lovat), a global manufacturer of tunnel boring machines used in the construction of metro, railway, road, sewer, water main, penstock, mine access, high voltage cable and telecommunications tunnels.
How much does the company sell and earn?
Investors need to know how much stuff or services a company sells, and how much of that total it keeps as income (or profit) to grow its business or return to shareholders. The more of each, the better. In general, look for companies that sell and earn more than peers.
- Caterpillar one-year sales: 37.42 Bil.
Difference from the average for the Farm & Construction Machinery group: 34.95% - Caterpillar one-year income: 1.32 Bil.
| Sales & Income (past 12 months) | Company | Industry |
|---|
| Sales | 37.42 Bil | 27.73 Bil | | Income | 1.32 Bil | -130.56 Mil |
How fast is the company growing?
- Caterpillar one-year sales growth: -36.20%.
Difference from the average for the Farm & Construction Machinery group: -10.00 pct. pts. - Caterpillar one-year income growth: -77.10%.
Difference from the average for the Farm & Construction Machinery group: -27.80 pct. pts.| Sales & Income Growth (past 12 months) | Company | Industry |
|---|
| Sales Growth | -36.20% | -26.20% | | Income Growth | -77.10% | -49.30% |
How profitable is the company?
Investors prefer companies that increase profit margins -- the percentage of sales that they keep -- every year. This is accomplished either by lowering expenses or raising prices. Look for companies that consistently find ways to squeeze more profits out of sales than their peers.
- Caterpillar one-year net profit margin: 3.4%
Difference from the company's 5-year average net profit margin: -4.0 pct. pts.
Difference from the average for the Farm & Construction Machinery group: 1.5 pct. pts.
| Net profit margins (%) |
|---|
| Company | 3.4% | | Company 5-Yr Avg. | 7.4% | | Industry | 1.9% |
How is the company's financial health?
The debt/equity ratio shows how much a firm has borrowed as a percentage of its stock equity. The lower, the better.
- Caterpillar debt/equity ratio: 4.03.
Difference from the average for the Farm & Construction Machinery group: 66.53%.
| | Company | Industry |
|---|
| Debt/equity ratio | 4.03 | 2.42 |
|
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