Caterpillar Warns On Quarterly Earnings, Sales Results

Caterpillar Inc. on Thursday warned that first-quarter sales and earnings will come in below expectations set by Wall Street analysts. The heavy-equipment supplier in a regulatory filing said first-quarter sales would come in between $9.3 billion and $9.4 billion. That's lower than the $10.4 billion in revenue projected in a FactSet survey of analysts. Caterpillar foresees per-share earnings excluding restructuring costs of 65 cents to 70 cents a share. Analysts were looking for 95 cents a share. The company projects net profit of 50 cents to 55 cents a share. Stock in Caterpillar dropped 3.8% to $71.50 in heavy premarket volume.