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    1. News & Analysis
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    Caterpillar Sales Jump 13 Percent for Full Year 2023; Up 3 Percent in Fourth Quarter

    Feb. 8, 2024
    Full-year sales and revenues in 2023 were $67.1 billion, up 13 percent compared with $59.4 billion in 2022.

    Caterpillar’s sales and revenues for the fourth quarter of 2023 were $17.1 billion, a 3-percent increase compared with $16.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. Operating profit margin was 18.4 percent for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with 10.1 percent for the fourth quarter of 2022. Adjusted operating profit margin was 18.9 percent for the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with 17.0 percent for the fourth quarter of 2022. Fourth-quarter 2023 profit per share was $5.28, compared with $2.79 profit per share in the fourth quarter of 2022. Adjusted profit per share in the fourth quarter of 2023 was $5.23, compared with fourth-quarter 2022 adjusted profit per share of $3.86.

    Full-year sales and revenues in 2023 were $67.1 billion, up 13 percent compared with $59.4 billion in 2022. The increase reflected favorable price realization and higher sales volume, driven by higher sales of equipment to end users, partially offset by the impact from changes in dealer inventories. Operating profit margin was 19.3 percent in 2023, compared with 13.3 percent in 2022. Adjusted operating profit margin was 20.5 percent in 2023, compared with 15.4 percent in 2022. Full-year profit was $20.12 per share in 2023, compared with profit of $12.64 per share in 2022. Adjusted profit per share in 2023 was $21.21, compared with adjusted profit per share of $13.84 in 2022.

    “I'm very proud of our global team's strong performance as they achieved the best year in our 98-year history, including record full-year sales and revenues, record adjusted profit per share and record ME&T free cash flow,” said Caterpillar chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. “We remain committed to serving our customers, executing our strategy and investing for long-term profitable growth.”

    In 2023, adjusted operating profit margin and adjusted profit per share excluded restructuring costs, which included the impact of the divestiture of the company's Longwall business and other restructuring costs.

    For the full year of 2023, enterprise operating cash flow was $12.9 billion. During the year, the company repurchased $5.0 billion of Caterpillar common stock and paid dividends of $2.6 billion. Liquidity remained strong with an enterprise cash balance of $7.0 billion at the end of 2023.

    Caterpillar’s strongest segment in the fourth quarter was Energy & Transportation, with a 12-percent sales increase in the quarter. Power generation was the strongest area with a 29-percent Q4 sales jump, with sales particularly strong in sales of large reciprocating engines, primarily data center applications.

    The oil and gas are increased sales 23 percent, with sales for turbines and turbine-related services leading the way, along with reciprocating engines used in well servicing and gas compression applications.

    Total sales in Construction Industries dropped 5 percent in the fourth quarter, although North America sales increased 4 percent.

    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.