Caterpillar third-quarter 2020 sales dropped 23 percent compared to the same period in 2019, to $9.9 billion from $12.8 billion. The company cited “lower sales volume driven by lower end-user demand” and dealers decreasing their inventories more this year than last in its Q3 2020 financial report.
Chairman/CEO Jim Umpleby said in a prepared statement that although the pandemic continues to affect the company, “results largely aligned with our expectations.”
“I’m proud of our global team’s performance as we continue to safely navigate the pandemic while remaining firmly committed to serving our customers,” he said. “We’re encouraged by positive signs in certain industries and geographies. We’re executing our strategy and are ready to respond quickly to changing market conditions.”
Caterpillar CFO Andrew Bonfield discusses the Q3 2020 results in a video.
Operating profit for the quarter was $985 million, a 51-percent decrease from the $2.0 billion recorded in the same period of 2019. Again, the company cited decreased sales volume. Operating profit margin was 10.0 percent for the third quarter of 2020, compared with 15.8 percent for the third quarter of 2019.
Construction Industries’ total sales were $4.1 billion in the third quarter of 2020, a decrease of 23 percent compared to $5.3 billion in the third quarter of 2019. Dealers decreased inventories in all regions except for Asia/Pacific, where dealers increased inventories, compared with the third quarter of 2019. In North America, sales decreased mostly due to lower sales volume driven by lower end-user demand and the impact from changes in dealer inventories. The lower end-user demand was driven primarily by pipeline and road construction.
Construction Industries’ profit was $585 million in the third quarter of 2020, down 38 percent compared with $940 million in the third quarter of 2019.
Caterpillar said it ended the third quarter with $9.3 billion of enterprise cash and more than $14 billion of available liquidity sources.
Source: Caterpillar
