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Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) spiked on Wednesday, erasing an earlier drop, even as the world's biggest construction and mining equipment maker reported profit more than halved in the third quarter, hurt by weak worldwide construction activity, mining and oil drilling.
Shares gained 3.1% to $71.00 at 1:50 p.m. in New York after retreating to as low as $67.81.
Net income fell to $368mln, or $0;62 per share, in the July-to-September quarter, from $1.02bn, or $1.63 per diluted share, a year earlier, Peoria, Illinois-based company said in a statement on Thursday.
Excluding restructuring costs, earnings were at $0.75, compared with $1.72 in the same quarter a year earlier. That lagged behind the $0.78 average estimate of 21 analysts polled by Capital IQ.
Caterpillar downwardly revised its profit outlook for the year to about $3.70 per share or $4.60 per share excluding restructuring costs. That matches the Wall Street consensus.
Caterpillar expects 2015 sales and revenues to be about $48bn. That's unchanged from an announcement in September.
However, It said sales and revenues are expected to be about 5% lower next year than in 2015 because of weak economic growth in the U.S. and Europe as well as headwinds from falling oil prices.
The guidance also reflects slowing growth in China, the world’s second-largest economy, and a recession in Brazil.