Caterpillar Inc. posted sales and revenues for the first quarter of 2024 of $15.8 billion, about flat compared to the first quarter of 2023. Sales volume was lower, but this was mostly offset by favorable price realization.
Operating profit margin was 22.3 percent for the first quarter of 2024, compared with 17.2 percent for the first quarter of 2023. Adjusted operating profit margin was 22.2 percent for the first quarter of 2024, compared with 21.1 percent 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,” said chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. “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. We continue to execute our strategy for long-term profitable growth.”
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.