Caterpillar Shares Soar After First-quarter Earnings Beat

Shares of Caterpillar Inc. rose 6% in premarket trade Tuesday after the company beat first-quarter earnings expectations and issued an upbeat outlook. It reported net income of $192 million, or 32 cents per share, down from $271 million, or 46 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding restructuring costs, it reported earnings per share of $1.28. The FactSet consensus was for earnings per share of 63 cents. Revenue was $9.82 billion, up from $9.46 billion in the year-earlier period and above the FactSet consensus of $9.26 billion. Caterpillar raised its 2017 revenue outlook to $38 billion to $41 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $37.9 billion. It expects profit per share of $2.10 at the midpoint of sales or $3.75 excluding restructuring costs, compared to the FactSet consensus of $3.25. It expects higher restructuring costs for the year, amounting to $1.25 billion. Shares of Caterpillar have gained 4.4% month-to-date, compared to the S&P 500's gain of 0.5%.