Caterpillar reports a fourth-quarter loss and lowers its 2017 revenue forecasts

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — Caterpillar’s fourth-quarter loss widened, hit by three high charges and higher-than-expected restructuring costs.

Adjusted earnings exceeded Wall Street expectations, but revenues topped expectations. The construction and mining company also slightly lowered its revenue forecast for 2017.

Shares fell before the market opened on Thursday.

During the three months ended December 31, Caterpillar Inc. lost $1.17 billion, or $2 per share. This compares with a loss of $94 million, or 16 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding fees and restructuring costs, earnings per share were 83 cents. Still, this easily beats the 65 cents per share estimate expected by analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue fell to $9.57 billion from $11.03 billion, missing the $9.75 billion Wall Street expected.

Caterpillar CEO Jim Umpleby said in a written statement that the company’s quarterly results “continue to reflect pressure in many of our end markets resulting from weak economic conditions across much of the world.”

For the year, the Peoria, Ill.-based company reported adjusted earnings of $3.42 per share on revenue of $38.54 billion.

Looking ahead, Caterpillar said it currently expects 2017 revenue to be in the range of $36 billion to $39 billion, with an average of $37.5 billion. However, revenues of around $38 billion were previously projected to be a reasonable average. Caterpillar said it had to lower its expectations slightly due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar over the past two months.

The company forecasts 2017 adjusted earnings of approximately $2.90 per share over the medium term.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect 2017 earnings of $3.06 per share on revenue of $37.56 billion.

Caterpillar shares fell $1.04 to $97.11 in pre-market trading.

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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access the Zacks stock report on CAT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/CAT

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Keywords: Caterpillar, earnings report, priority earnings