Caterpillar Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby announced the company achieved “the best year in our 98-year history” during its Q4 2023 earnings call on February 5.
Fourth-quarter 2023 sales and revenues for the manufacturer were up 3% to $17.1 billion compared with the same period last year.
Full-year sales and revenues totaled $67.1 billion, a 13% jump over 2022 results. Cat says 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.
“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,” Umpleby said. “We remain committed to serving our customers, executing our strategy and investing for long-term profitable growth.”
Cat noted that the adjusted operating profit margin and adjusted profit per share for 2023 excluded restructuring costs, which included the divestiture of the company's Longwall business, and a benefit for certain deferred tax valuation allowance adjustments and mark-to-market gains for remeasurement of pension and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) plans. The adjusted operating profit margin was 20.5% in 2023, and full-year adjusted profit per share was $21.21.
Machine sales to users, which includes Construction Industries and Resource Industries, rose by 3% in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Construction Industries sales specifically were up 4%, with Cat continuing to see strong sales and healthy demand in North America. “Non-residential continued to benefit from government related infrastructure and construction projects. Residential sales to users in North America also increased in the quarter,” Umpleby told investors. Meanwhile, construction sales declined in EAME, Latin America and Asia.
