: Caterpillar reports big profit and revenue beats on higher volume and prices, but stock pulls back

Caterpillar Inc. CAT reported Tuesday second-quarter earnings that beat expectations by a wide margin, due to higher sales volume, higher pricing and improved margins. Meanwhile, the construction- and mining-equipment maker’s stock slipped 0.2% in premarket trading after closing Monday at a record. Net income rose to $2.92 billion, or $5.67 a share, from $1.67 billion, or $3.13 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $5.55 was well above the FactSet consensus of $4.57. Revenue grew 21.6% to $17.32 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $16.46 billion, as energy and transportation revenue jumped 27% to $7.22 billion, construction industries revenue rose 19% to $7.15 billion and resource industries revenue increased 20% to $3.56 billion. Operating profit margin improved to 21.1% from 13.6%. The stock has run up 22.1% over the past three months through Monday while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA has tacked on 4.4%.

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