Caterpillar Reports First-Quarter 2024 Results

• First-quarter 2024 profit per share of $5.75; adjusted profit per share of $5.60
• Enterprise operating cash flow was $2.1 billion in the first quarter of 2024
• Deployed $5.1 billion of cash for share repurchases and dividends in the first quarter

IRVING, Texas, April 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) announced first-quarter 2024 results. Sales and revenues for the first quarter of 2024 were $15.8 billion, about flat to the first quarter of 2023, due to lower sales volume, which was mostly offset by favorable price realization.

Operating profit margin was 22.3% for the first quarter of 2024, compared with 17.2% for the first quarter of 2023. Adjusted operating profit margin was 22.2% for the first quarter of 2024, compared with 21.1% for the first quarter of 2023. First-quarter 2024 profit per share was $5.75, compared with first-quarter 2023 profit per share of $3.74. Adjusted profit per share in the first quarter of 2024 was $5.60, compared with first-quarter 2023 adjusted profit per share of $4.91. In the first quarter of 2024 and 2023, adjusted operating profit margin and adjusted profit per share excluded restructuring income/costs.

For the three months ended March 31, 2024, enterprise operating cash flow was $2.1 billion, and the company ended the first quarter with $5.0 billion of enterprise cash. In the quarter, the company deployed $4.5 billion of cash for repurchases of Caterpillar common stock and $0.6 billion of cash for dividends.

"I'm pleased with our team's performance that resulted in higher adjusted operating profit margin, record adjusted profit per share and strong ME&T free cash flow. Our strong balance sheet and ME&T free cash flow allowed us to deploy a record $5.1 billion of cash for share repurchases and dividends in the first quarter," said Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. "We continue to execute our strategy for long-term profitable growth."

CONSOLIDATED RESULTS

Consolidated Sales and Revenues

Consolidated Sales and Revenues Comparison
First Quarter 2024 vs. First Quarter 2023 

To access this chart, go to http://www.caterpillar.com/en/investors/quarterly-results.html for the downloadable version of Caterpillar First-Quarter 2024 earnings. 

The chart above graphically illustrates reasons for the change in consolidated sales and revenues between the first quarter of 2023 (at left) and the first quarter of 2024 (at right). Caterpillar management utilizes these charts internally to visually communicate with the company's board of directors and employees.

Total sales and revenues for the first quarter of 2024 were $15.799 billion, a decrease of $63 million, or about flat, compared with $15.862 billion in the first quarter of 2023. Lower sales volume of $684 million and unfavorable currency impacts of $30 million, primarily related to the Australian dollar, were mostly offset by favorable price realization of $575 million and higher Financial Products' revenues of $76 million. The decrease in sales volume was primarily driven by lower sales of equipment to end users; there was not a significant impact from changes in dealer inventories.

In the three primary segments, sales were higher in Energy & Transportation and lower in Construction Industries and Resource Industries.

Consolidated Operating Profit

Consolidated Operating Profit Comparison
First Quarter 2024 vs. First Quarter 2023

To access this chart, go to http://www.caterpillar.com/en/investors/quarterly-results.html for the downloadable version of Caterpillar First-Quarter 2024 earnings. 

The chart above graphically illustrates reasons for the change in consolidated operating profit between the first quarter of 2023 (at left) and the first quarter of 2024 (at right). Caterpillar management utilizes these charts internally to visually communicate with the company's board of directors and employees. The bar titled Other includes consolidating adjustments and Machinery, Energy & Transportation's other operating (income) expenses.

Operating profit for the first quarter of 2024 was $3.519 billion, an increase of $788 million, or 29%, compared with $2.731 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The increase was primarily due to the absence of the impact of the divestiture of the company's Longwall business in 2023 of $586 million and favorable price realization of $575 million, partially offset by the profit impact of lower sales volume of $268 million.

Other Profit/Loss and Tax Items 

• Other income (expense) in the first quarter of 2024 was income of $156 million, compared with income of $32 million in the first quarter of 2023. The change was primarily driven by favorable impacts from foreign currency exchange.
  
  
• The effective tax rate for the first quarter of 2024 was 19.5% compared to 26.9% for the first quarter of 2023. Excluding the discrete items discussed below, the first quarter 2024 estimated annual tax rate was 22.5% compared with 23.0% for the first quarter of 2023.
  
  The 2024 estimated annual tax rate excludes the impact of nontaxable gains of $64 million for the divestiture of a non-U.S. mining entity along with a related tax benefit of $54 million. The estimated annual tax rate in the first quarter of 2023 excluded the impact of the nondeductible loss of $586 million related to the divestiture of the company's Longwall business. In addition, a discrete tax benefit of $38 million was recorded in the first quarter of 2024, compared with a $32 million benefit in the first quarter of 2023, for the settlement of stock-based compensation awards with associated tax deductions in excess of cumulative U.S. GAAP compensation expense.
  
  Please see a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP financial measures in the appendix on pages 12 and 13.

Construction Industries' total sales were $6.424 billion in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of $322 million, or 5%, compared with $6.746 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The decrease was primarily due to lower sales volume of $464 million, partially offset by favorable price realization of $199 million. The decrease in sales volume was mainly driven by lower sales of equipment to end users.

• In North America, sales increased primarily due to favorable price realization.
• Sales in Latin America were about flat.
• In EAME, sales decreased mainly due to lower sales volume. Lower sales volume was primarily driven by lower sales of equipment to end users.
• Sales decreased in Asia/Pacific primarily due to lower sales volume. Lower sales volume was mainly driven by the impact from changes in dealer inventories. Dealer inventory increased more during the first quarter of 2023 than during the first quarter of 2024.

Construction Industries' profit was $1.764 billion in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of $26 million, or 1%, compared with $1.790 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The decrease was mainly due to the profit impact of lower sales volume of $278 million, higher selling, general and administrative (SG&A) and research and development (R&D) expenses of $26 million and other unfavorable segment items of $7 million, partially offset by favorable price realization of $199 million and favorable manufacturing costs of $86 million. Favorable manufacturing costs largely reflected lower freight.

Resource Industries' total sales were $3.193 billion in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of $234 million, or 7%, compared with $3.427 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The decrease was primarily due to lower sales volume of $425 million, partially offset by favorable price realization of $173 million. The decrease in sales volume was mainly driven by lower sales of equipment to end users.

Resource Industries' profit was $730 million in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of $34 million, or 4%, compared with $764 million in the first quarter of 2023. The decrease was mainly due to the profit impact of lower sales volume of $217 million and other unfavorable segment items of $24 million, partially offset by favorable price realization of $173 million and favorable manufacturing costs of $38 million. Other unfavorable segment items primarily consisted of unfavorable currency impacts. Favorable manufacturing costs largely reflected lower freight.

Energy & Transportation's total sales were $6.681 billion in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of $427 million, or 7%, compared with $6.254 billion in the first quarter of 2023. Sales increased across all applications except Industrial. The increase in sales was primarily due to higher sales volume of $231 million and favorable price realization of $202 million.

• Oil and Gas – Sales increased for turbines and turbine-related services. Sales also increased in reciprocating engines used in gas compression applications.
• Power Generation – Sales increased in large reciprocating engines, primarily data center applications.
• Industrial – Sales decreased primarily in EAME and North America.
• Transportation – Sales increased in rail services. International locomotive deliveries were also higher.

Energy & Transportation's profit was $1.301 billion in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of $244 million, or 23%, compared with $1.057 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The increase was mainly due to favorable price realization of $202 million.

Financial Products' segment revenues were $991 million in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of $89 million, or 10%, compared with $902 million in the first quarter of 2023. The increase was primarily due to a $69 million favorable impact from higher average financing rates across all regions and a $32 million favorable impact from higher average earning assets driven by North America.

Financial Products' segment profit was $293 million in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of $61 million, or 26%, compared with $232 million in the first quarter of 2023. The increase was mainly due to a $33 million insurance settlement and a $27 million favorable impact from equity securities.

At the end of the first quarter of 2024, past dues at Cat Financial were 1.78%, compared with 2.00% at the end of the first quarter of 2023. Write-offs, net of recoveries, were $55 million for the first quarter of 2024, compared with $10 million for the first quarter of 2023. As of March 31, 2024, Cat Financial's allowance for credit losses totaled $281 million, or 1.01% of finance receivables, compared with $331 million, or 1.18% of finance receivables at December 31, 2023.

Corporate Items and Eliminations

Expense for corporate items and eliminations was $440 million in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of $543 million from the first quarter of 2023, primarily driven by the absence of the impact of the divestiture of the company's Longwall business in 2023.

Notes

i.  Glossary of terms is included on the Caterpillar website at https://investors.caterpillar.com/overview/default.aspx.
ii.  Sales of equipment to end users is demonstrated by the company's Rolling 3 Month Retail Sales Statistics filed in a Form 8-K on Thursday, April 25, 2024.
iii.  Information on non-GAAP financial measures is included in the appendix on pages 12 and 13.
iv.  Some amounts within this report are rounded to the millions or billions and may not add.
v.  Caterpillar will conduct a teleconference and live webcast, with a slide presentation, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Central Time on Thursday, April 25, 2024, to discuss its 2024 first-quarter results. The accompanying slides will be available before the webcast on the Caterpillar website at https://investors.caterpillar.com/events-presentations/default.aspx. 

About Caterpillar

With 2023 sales and revenues of $67.1 billion, Caterpillar Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. For nearly 100 years, we've been helping customers build a better, more sustainable world and are committed and contributing to a reduced-carbon future. Our innovative products and services, backed by our global dealer network, provide exceptional value that helps customers succeed. Caterpillar does business on every continent, principally operating through three primary segments – Construction Industries, Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation – and providing financing and related services through our Financial Products segment. Visit us at caterpillar.com or join the conversation on our social media channels at caterpillar.com/en/news/social-media.html. 

Caterpillar's latest financial results are also available online:

https://investors.caterpillar.com/overview/default.aspx

https://investors.caterpillar.com/financials/quarterly-results/default.aspx (live broadcast/replays of quarterly conference call)

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release relate to future events and expectations and are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "believe," "estimate," "will be," "will," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "forecast," "target," "guide," "project," "intend," "could," "should" or other similar words or expressions often identify forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding our outlook, projections, forecasts or trend descriptions. These statements do not guarantee future performance and speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.

Caterpillar's actual results may differ materially from those described or implied in our forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including, but not limited to: (i) global and regional economic conditions and economic conditions in the industries we serve; (ii) commodity price changes, material price increases, fluctuations in demand for our products or significant shortages of material; (iii) government monetary or fiscal policies; (iv) political and economic risks, commercial instability and events beyond our control in the countries in which we operate; (v) international trade policies and their impact on demand for our products and our competitive position, including the imposition of new tariffs or changes in existing tariff rates; (vi) our ability to develop, produce and market quality products that meet our customers' needs; (vii) the impact of the highly competitive environment in which we operate on our sales and pricing; (viii) information technology security threats and computer crime; (ix) inventory management decisions and sourcing practices of our dealers and our OEM customers; (x) a failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, joint ventures or divestitures; (xi) union disputes or other employee relations issues; (xii) adverse effects of unexpected events; (xiii) disruptions or volatility in global financial markets limiting our sources of liquidity or the liquidity of our customers, dealers and suppliers; (xiv) failure to maintain our credit ratings and potential resulting increases to our cost of borrowing and adverse effects on our cost of funds, liquidity, competitive position and access to capital markets; (xv) our Financial Products segment's risks associated with the financial services industry; (xvi) changes in interest rates or market liquidity conditions; (xvii) an increase in delinquencies, repossessions or net losses of Cat Financial's customers; (xviii) currency fluctuations; (xix) our or Cat Financial's compliance with financial and other restrictive covenants in debt agreements; (xx) increased pension plan funding obligations; (xxi) alleged or actual violations of trade or anti-corruption laws and regulations; (xxii) additional tax expense or exposure, including the impact of U.S. tax reform; (xxiii) significant legal proceedings, claims, lawsuits or government investigations; (xxiv) new regulations or changes in financial services regulations; (xxv) compliance with environmental laws and regulations; (xxvi) catastrophic events, including global pandemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic; and (xxvii) other factors described in more detail in Caterpillar's Forms 10-Q, 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

APPENDIX

NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

The following definitions are provided for the non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures have no standardized meaning prescribed by U.S. GAAP and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to the calculation of similar measures for other companies. Management does not intend these items to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the related GAAP measures.

The company believes it is important to separately quantify the profit impact of three significant items in order for the company's results to be meaningful to readers. These items consist of (i) restructuring income related to the divestiture of a non-US mining entity, (ii) other restructuring income/costs and (iii) restructuring costs related to the divestiture of the company's Longwall business in 2023. The company does not consider these items indicative of earnings from ongoing business activities and believes the non-GAAP measure provides investors with useful perspective on underlying business results and trends and aids with assessing the company's period-over-period results. The company intends to discuss adjusted profit per share for the fourth quarter and full-year 2024, excluding mark-to-market gains or losses for remeasurement of pension and other postemployment benefit plans.

Reconciliations of adjusted results to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are as follows:

The company believes it is important to separately disclose the annual effective tax rate, excluding discrete items for the results to be meaningful to readers. The annual effective tax rate, excluding discrete items for the three months ended March 31, 2024, and 2023 is discussed using non-GAAP financial measures that exclude the effects of amounts associated with discrete items recorded fully in the quarter they occur. These items consist of (i) restructuring income related to the divestiture of a non-US mining entity, (ii) restructuring costs related to the divestiture of the company's Longwall business in 2023 and (iii) settlement of stock-based compensation awards with associated tax deductions in excess of cumulative U.S. GAAP compensation expense. The company believes the non-GAAP measures will provide investors with useful perspective on underlying business results and trends and aids with assessing the company's period-over-period results.

A reconciliation of the effective tax rate to annual effective tax rate, excluding discrete items is below:

Supplemental Consolidating Data

The company is providing supplemental consolidating data for the purpose of additional analysis. The data has been grouped as follows:

Consolidated – Caterpillar Inc. and its subsidiaries.

Machinery, Energy & Transportation (ME&T) – The company defines ME&T as it is presented in the supplemental data as Caterpillar Inc. and its subsidiaries, excluding Financial Products. ME&T's information relates to the design, manufacturing and marketing of its products.

Financial Products – The company defines Financial Products as it is presented in the supplemental data as its finance and insurance subsidiaries, primarily Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation (Cat Financial) and Caterpillar Insurance Holdings Inc. (Insurance Services). Financial Products' information relates to the financing to customers and dealers for the purchase and lease of Caterpillar and other equipment.

Consolidating Adjustments – Eliminations of transactions between ME&T and Financial Products.

The nature of the ME&T and Financial Products businesses is different, especially with regard to the financial position and cash flow items. Caterpillar management utilizes this presentation internally to highlight these differences. The company believes this presentation will assist readers in understanding its business.

Pages 15 to 23 reconcile ME&T and Financial Products to Caterpillar Inc. consolidated financial information.

SOURCE Caterpillar Inc.