The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

CAT 2Q24 results have no surprises:

https://www.caterpillar.com/content/dam/caterpillarDotCom/releases/2q24/2q24-caterpillar-inc-financial-results.pdf

• 2Q24 sales were $16.7B, -4% YoY, with price increases not fully offsetting lower volume. CAT guided three months ago that 2Q24 would be a down quarter compared to 2Q23 (#msg-174303439).

• 2Q24 sales in the Construction segment (comprising 42% of non-financial corporate sales) were $6.68B, -7% YoY.

• 2Q24 sales in the Resources Industries (mining equipment) segment (comprising 20% of non-financial corporate sales) were $3.21B, -10% YoY.

• 2Q24 sales in the Energy & Transportation segment (comprising 46% of non-financial corporate sales) were $7.34B, +2% YoY.

• Note: The three business segments above sum to more than 100% of corporate non-financial sales due to inter-segment sales, which are removed from the total sales number.

• 2Q24 non-GAAP* EPS was $5.99, up from $5.55 in 2Q23.

• 2Q24 GAAP EPS was $5.48, down from $5.67 in 2Q23.

CAT does not provide specific guidance for sales or EPS, but it expects 2H24 sales to be slightly higher than 1H24.

*Excluding restructuring costs from non-GAAP EPS is a policy that I disapprove of because multinational, multifaceted businesses such as CAT have restructuring costs continually.