Shares of Caterpillar Inc. $(CAT)$ took a 4.5% hit toward a six-week low in premarket trading Wednesday, after the construction- and mining-equipment company reported third-quarter profit and revenue that missed expectations, amid weakness in its construction and resource industries businesses.
Net income fell to $2.46 billion, or $5.06 a share, from $2.79 billion, or $5.45 a share, in the same period a year ago. Excluding nonrecurring items, such as restructuring costs, adjusted earnings per share of $5.17 missed the FactSet consensus of $5.35. Total revenue declined 4.2% to $16.11 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $16.37 billion, as sales volumes decreased due to lower sales of equipment to end users.
Among Caterpillar's largest businesses, construction industries revenue was down 9% to $6.35 billion, energy and transportation revenue increased 5% to $7.19 billion and resource industries revenue dropped 10% to $3.03 billion. The stock has run up 31.1% year to date through Tuesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average has gained 12.1%.