REUTERS - Caterpillar Inc reported a quarterly profit that surged past estimates as sales rose for the first time in more than two years, helped by a recovery in its end markets, sending the company's shares up 5 percent in premarket trading.
The world's biggest construction and mining equipment maker also raised its 2017 earnings per share and sales forecasts.
"There are encouraging signs, with promising quoting activity in many of the markets we serve," Chief Executive Jim Umpleby said in a statement.
Caterpillar said it now expects 2017 adjusted earnings of $3.75 per share, up from the $2.90 it had previously forecast.
It forecast sales and revenue of $38 billion-$41 billion, up from its previous forecast of $36 billion-$39 billion.
Analysts on average were expecting 2017 earnings of $3.26 per share, on revenue $38.27 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
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Profit attributable to common stockholders fell to $192 million, or 32 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $271 million, or 46 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding restructuring costs, Caterpillar earned $1.28 per share, compared with 64 cents per share a year earlier.
Total sales and revenue rose to $9.82 billion from $9.46 billion.
Analysts on average had expected first-quarter earnings of 62 cents per share on revenue $9.27 billion.
(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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