Caterpillar Revenue Jumps 14.3 Percent in First Quarter
Caterpillar Inc. announced first-quarter 2022 sales and revenues of $13.6 billion, a 14.3-percent increase compared with $11.9 billion in the first quarter of 2021. The increase was primarily the results of higher sales volume, driven by higher end-user demand for equipment and services and the impact from changes in dealer inventories, as well as favorable price realization. Dealers increased inventories more during the first quarter of 2022 than during the first quarter of 2021.
Operating profit margin was 13.7 percent for the first quarter of 2022, compared with 15.3 percent for the first quarter of 2021. First-quarter 2022 profit per share was $2.86, compared with first-quarter 2021 profit per share of $2.77. Adjusted profit per share in the first quarter of 2022 was $2.88, compared with first-quarter 2021 adjusted profit per share of $2.87. Adjusted profit per share for both quarters excluded restructuring costs.
For the three months ended March 31, 2022, enterprise operating cash flow was $0.3 billion and the company ended the first quarter with $6.5 billion of enterprise cash. The company paid about $1.3 billion of short-term incentive compensation in the quarter, which was reinstated in 2021. In the quarter, the company repurchased $0.8 billion of Caterpillar common stock and paid dividends of $0.6 billion.
“I’m proud of our global team’s performance as they achieved double-digit sales growth despite ongoing supply chain challenges,” said chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. “We remain focused on supporting our customers and executing our strategy for long-term profitable growth. “Our strong balance sheet allowed us to repurchase shares and pay dividends totaling $1.4 billion in the quarter.”
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.