Caterpillar sales grow 22% in 2021

The American company Caterpillar reported this Friday that it registered sales and income of 51,000 million dollars, 22% more than in 2020.

Mostly, the increase reflected increased demand for equipment and services from end users and the impact of changes in dealer inventories.

Caterpillar is the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives.

The company operates primarily through its three main segments: Construction Industries, Resource Industries, and Energy and Transportation, and also provides financing and related services through its Financial Products segment.

Caterpillar is also a leading US exporter.

Through a global network of independent dealers and direct sales of certain products, Caterpillar builds relationships with customers around the world.

While its distributors reduced their inventories by $2.9 billion in 2020, they were roughly flat in 2021.

Operating profit margin was 13.5% in 2021, compared to 10.9% in 2020.

For its part, profit for the full year was $11.83 per share in 2021, compared to profit of $5.46 per share in 2020.

Caterpillar

“I am proud of the continued resilience of our global team in what has proven to be a challenging and dynamic operating environment. We delivered tight operating profit margins and free cash flows from ME&T consistent with our long-term goals set during our 2019 Investor Day,” said company Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby.

In 2021, adjusted earnings per share excluded mark-to-market earnings from remeasurement of pension plans and other post-employment benefits (OPEB) and restructuring costs.

For comparison: In 2020, adjusted earnings per share excluded market value losses from OPEB and pension plan remeasurement and restructuring costs.

For the full year of 2021, the company’s operating cash flow was $7.2 billion.

During the year, the company repurchased $2.7 billion of Caterpillar common stock and paid $2.3 billion in dividends.

Liquidity remained strong with a business cash balance of $9.3 billion at the end of 2021.