Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) lost some of its strength on first-quarter financial numbers.
The company, based in Deerfield, Illinois, today announced Q1 2020 sales and revenues of $10.6 billion, a 21% decrease compared with $13.5 billion in the first quarter of 2019. The decline was due to lower sales volume driven by lower end-user demand and the impact from changes in dealer inventories.
Dealers increased machine and engine inventories about $100 million during the first quarter of 2020, compared with about $1.3 billion during the first quarter of 2019.
Tuesday’s news release went on to say first-quarter 2020 profit per share was $1.98, compared with $3.25 profit per share in the first quarter of 2019.
Profit per share in the first quarter of 2020 included a pre-tax re-measurement gain of $254 million, or $0.38 per share, resulting from the settlement of a non-U.S. pension obligation. Profit per share in the first quarter of 2019 included a discrete tax benefit related to U.S. tax reform of $178 million, or $0.31 per share.
Operating profit margin was 13.2% for the first quarter of 2020, compared with 16.4% for the first quarter of 2019.
During the first quarter of 2020, enterprise operating cash flow was $1.130 billion. Caterpillar has taken actions to improve its strong financial position by increasing sources of liquidity. On a consolidated basis, Caterpillar ended the first quarter with $7.1 billion of cash and available global credit facilities of $10.5 billion.
In April, Caterpillar raised $2.0 billion of incremental cash by issuing new 10- and 30-year bonds and arranged $8.0 billion of additional backup facilities to supplement the company's liquidity position.
CAT shares dipped $1.22, or 1.1%, to $113.98.
