Caterpillar profit surges on equipment demand

NEW YORK (AP) - Caterpillar Inc.'s third-quarter profit surged on demand for construction equipment, topping Wall Street expectations.

The Peoria, Illinois-based company boosted its guidance, citing strong oil and gas markets in North America along with construction in China. Its shares surged, ending Tuesday up $6.56, or 5 percent, to $138.24.

Profit nearly quadrupled to $1.06 billion, or $1.77 per share. Earnings, adjusted for restructuring costs, came to $1.95 per share. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.22 per share.

Revenue surged 25 percent to $11.41 billion while six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $10.61 billion.

Construction equipment revenue rose 37 percent to $4.85 billion, followed by energy and transportation equipment rising 12 percent to $3.96 billion. Those segments were the key revenue drivers during the quarter.

Caterpillar now expects full-year adjusted earnings to be $6.25 per share, up from a previous estimate of $5 per share. It expects revenue of $44 billion.

Caterpillar shares have risen 42 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 15 percent. The stock has climbed 53 percent in the last 12 months.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on CAT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CAT