Caterpillar’s Record Earnings and Icahn’s Transocean Bid: Morning Buzzers

U.S. stock futures woke up on Monday morning and headed immediately for positive territory, following a strong earnings report from a bellwether company.

At 8:45 a.m.: DJIA: +0.19%, S&P 500: +0.12%, NASDAQ: +0.10%.

Here’s what’s buzzing in the pre-market:

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) climbed as much as 2.3 percent in the pre-market after ending last week on a bad note. Despite last week’s report that machine sales dropped for the first time in two and a half years, the world’s largest maker of construction and mining equipment published fourth-quarter results on Monday morning that did not disappoint. Revenues for the quarter were down 6.8 percent year over year to $16 billion, but increased 10 percent for all of 2012 compared to 2011. Earnings for the quarter fell 55.2 percent year over year to $1.04 per share, but full-year 2012 earnings increased 15 percent from 2011 to a record $8.48 per share.

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) continues to move up following last week’s tremendous post-earnings gains. Shares were up another 3 percent in Monday’s pre-market after closing 66.9 percent higher for the week on Friday. The streaming video service added more subscribers than expected while increasing its margin and laying out a competent plan for future growth… (Read more.)