DEERFIELD — The 2017 turnaround in Caterpillar Inc. equipment sales continued accelerating through the end of the year, pushing the company's total revenue to $45.5 billion — 18 percent higher than the previous year.
Sales in the fourth quarter alone reached $12.9 billion, an increase of 35 percent from the last quarter of 2016 and the greatest quarter-over-quarter gain of the year, according to the fourth quarter earnings report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.
The gain capped a turnaround year for Caterpillar with continued sales acceleration after more than a dozen straight quarters of declines, sending the company into 2018 with the most sales momentum achieved all year.
“After four challenging years, many key markets improved in 2017, and our global team delivered strong results," said Caterpillar CEO Jim Umpleby. "We remained focused on operational excellence and made early investments in profitable growth initiatives as we began to implement our new strategy."
Adjusted profit per share for the quarter was $2.16, up from 83 cents in the last quarter of 2016, while the full-year total hit $6.88 per share, up from $3.42 the previous year.
Caterpillar did not provide a sales and revenue estimate for 2018 with the earnings report on Thursday, but did forecast adjusted profit of between $8.25 and $9.25 per share for this year.
The company's stock posted gains of almost 4 percent in pre-market trading, rising to just shy of $175 per share before the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange. Share prices dropped sharply in morning trading, however, before regaining ground to trade just below $170 per share at mid-day.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
Matt Buedel can be reached at 686-3154 or mbuedel@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @JournoBuedel.