Caterpillar reported first quarter 2021 sales and revenues of $11.887 billion compared with $10.635 billion in the first quarter of 2020, a 11.8-percent increase, led by higher sales volume, higher end-user demand and the impact from changes in dealer inventories. Dealers increased their inventories more during the first quarter of 2021 than during the first quarter of 2020.
Operating profit margin was 15.3 percent for the first quarter of 2021, compared with 13.2 percent for the first quarter of 2020. First quarter 2021 profit per share was $2.77 compared with $1.98 in Q120.
Sales increased in Asia/Pacific, Latin America and EAME while sales in North America were about flat.
Caterpillar’s Construction Industries Division posted total sales of $5.459 billion in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of $1.153 billion, or 27 percent, compared with $4.306 billion in the first quarter of 2020. The increase was because of higher sales volume driven by higher end-user demand and the impact from changes in dealer inventories.
In North America, sales increased slightly because of higher end-user demand partially offset by the impact from changes in dealer inventories and unfavorable price realization. The higher end-user demand was driven primarily by residential construction. Dealers increased inventories more during the first quarter of 2020 than during the first quarter of 2021.
Sales increased in Latin America mostly as a result of higher sales volume driven by higher end-user demand across the region and the impact of changes in dealer inventories, partially offset by unfavorable currency impacts from a weaker Brazilian real. Dealers decreased inventories during the first quarter of 2020, compared with an increase during the first quarter of 2021.
In EAME, sales increased because of higher sales volume and favorable currency impacts from a stronger euro. Sales increased in Asia/Pacific primarily due to higher sales volume and favorable currency impacts from a stronger Chinese yuan. The increase in sales was primarily caused by higher end-user demand across the region driven mainly by China, reflecting the impact of the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020, and the impact from changes in dealer inventories.
Construction Industries' profit was $1.035 billion in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of $395 million, or 62%, compared with $640 million in the first quarter of 2020.
"We're encouraged by improving conditions in our end markets and are proactively managing supply chain risks,” said Caterpillar chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. “Our dedicated team continues to execute our strategy for long-term profitable growth."
Resource Industries' total sales were $2.216 billion in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of $132 million, or 6 percent, compared with $2.084 billion in the first quarter of 2020.
Energy & Transportation's total sales were $4.507 billion in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of $158 million, or 4 percent, compared with $4.349 billion in the first quarter of 2020. Sales growth was driven by Power Generation and Oil and Gas, partially offset by a decrease in Transportation. Inter-segment sales also increased.
Sales increased in oil and gas mainly from higher sales of reciprocating engine aftermarket parts primarily driven by North America and EAME.
In power generation, sales increased from turbines, turbine-related services and large reciprocating engine applications, including data centers.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.