Caterpillar Inc.'s second-quarter profit jumped 34 percent as stronger international sales outpaced higher raw material and freight costs for the maker of tractors, backhoes and other heavy equipment.
The Peoria, Ill.-based company on Tuesday reported profit of $1.11 billion, or $1.74 per share, for the three months ended June 30, compared with $823 million, or $1.24 per share, a year earlier.
The results beat Wall Street expectations.
Quarterly revenue rose 20 percent to $13.62 billion from $11.36 billion, with sales shifting outside North America. Caterpillar generated 60 percent of quarterly sales and revenues outside North America, up from 55 percent a year earlier.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, expected profit of $1.54 per share on revenue of $12.69 billion.
Caterpillar said its quarterly sales and revenues and profit per share set all-time records.
"While North America remains depressed, and we've seen softening in Western Europe and Japan, Caterpillar continues to grow in emerging markets and in global industries like energy and mining," Chief Executive Jim Owens said in a statement.
For the full year, Caterpillar said it expects sales and revenues of about $50 billion and profit of about $6 per share, an increase from earlier projections of sales and revenues of $47.2 billion to $49.5 billion and profit per share of $5.64 to $6.18.
