General Motors and Caterpillar are good for Wall Street. In the wake of the positive quarterly results of the two US industrial giants, the New York Stock Exchange opened in positive territory: the Dow Jones rises by 161,48 points (+1,04%) to 16.629,71 points, while theS & P 500 grows by 17,50 points (+0,92%), to 1.944,35 points, and the Nasdaq buys 43,57 points (+0,99%), at 4.425,92. The contract in November of crude is up 58 cents (+0,72%) at 81,10 dollars a barrel, while futures in December ofgold they settled down $10,90 (-0,88%) to $1.234,70 an ounce.
Markets also like the positive news from Europe, where the PMI index for October showed higher than expected numbers. On the other hand, the rise in initial applications for American unemployment benefits (+17 to 283), which remain close to the lowest level since 2000, does not matter.
On the quarterly front, between June and September General Motors it saw profits fall 14% but beat analysts' forecasts on the back of the strength of the business in North America, which offset weaker results in the rest of the world. The Detroit giant reported net income attributable to shareholders of $1,47 billion, up from $1,71 billion in the same period last year. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders, on the other hand, nearly doubled to $1,384 billion from $698 million in the same period last year.
Excluding special items at 16 cents a share, earnings rose 96 cents a share to 97 cents, better than 95 cents expected by analysts. Revenue rose by a small amount from $39 billion to $39,3 billion, while analysts were expecting a figure of $39,8 billion. The North American division generated operating profits of $2,45 billion, while margins increased from 9,3 to 9,5%. The performance in the rest of the world was not as positive: in Europe and South America, GM recorded operating losses of $387 million and $32 million, respectively. Overall, the international activities produced operating profits of 259 million.
CaterpillarInstead, it saw third-quarter earnings rise 8% and raised its full-year earnings forecast to $6,50 a share from $6,20 previously. For next year, the American giant of heavy machinery expects sales to be flat or slightly up, while analysts forecast a growth of 4% to 56,93 billion.
Chief Executive Officer Doug Oberhelman spoke of weaker global economic growth than the company would like, but with prospects for improvement next year. Caterpillar “continues to focus on what it can control – cost management and operational execution,” he added.
Caterpillar posted profits of $1,02 billion ($1,63 per share) in the third quarter versus $946 million ($1,45 per share) in the same period last year. Excluding restructuring charges, earnings per share were $1,72 per share. Revenue increased 1% to $13,549 billion. Analysts were expecting profits of $1,36 per share on $13,19 billion in business.
