Caterpillar Earnings on the Horizon

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) will unveil its latest earnings tomorrow, Wednesday, July 25, 2012. Caterpillar offers construction and mining equipment as well as diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines.

Caterpillar Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for profit of $2.28 per share, a rise of 32.6% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $2.31. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved up. It has dropped from $2.33 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 22.5% versus last year to $9.57.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company reported net income of $2.37 per share versus a mean estimate of profit of. The company has beaten estimates for the past three quarters.

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A Look Back: In the first quarter, profit rose 29.5% to $1.59 billion ($2.37 a share) from $1.23 billion ($1.84 a share) the year earlier, exceeding analyst expectations. Revenue rose 23.4% to $15.98 billion from $12.95 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between April 24, 2012 and July 23, 2012, the stock price fell $25.32 (-23.69%), from $106.90 to $81.58. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between December 28, 2011 and January 10, 2012, when shares rose for nine straight days, increasing 11.8% (+$10.59) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between June 19, 2012 and June 27, 2012 when shares fell for seven straight days, dropping 7.4% (-$6.59) over that span.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 20.2% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $17.11 billion.

Key Stats:

The company enters this earnings announcement with substantial revenue momentum. The company has averaged year-over-year revenue growth of 34% over the last four quarters.

This upcoming earnings announcement will be a chance to build on positive earnings momentum over the last three quarters. Net income rose 44.1% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year and 59.8% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year before increasing again in the first quarter.

Analyst Ratings: With 12 analysts rating the stock a buy, none rating it a sell and six rating the stock a hold, there are indications of a bullish stance by analysts.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 1.39 last quarter. The current ratio is an indication of a firm’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands and generally, for every dollar the company owes in the short term, it has that figure available in assets that can be converted to cash in the short term. The company improved this liquidity measure from 1.33 in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year to the last quarter driven in part by an increase in current assets. Current assets increased 5.5% to $40.21 billion while liabilities rose by 1% to $28.85 billion.

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(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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