Summary
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) filed an 8-K report on December 18, 2015, to provide supplemental information on its retail sales statistics for the three-month rolling period ended November 2015. This filing aims to give investors a clearer understanding of the company's business and industry trends, particularly given the lag between Caterpillar's sales to dealers and dealers' sales to end-users. The data, based on unaudited dealer reports, indicates a significant downturn in retail machine sales across most geographic regions and segments. Notably, global retail machine sales declined by 11% year-over-year for the period. The Resource Industries segment experienced a particularly sharp 28% decrease, while Construction Industries saw a 7% decline. The Energy & Transportation segment also reported a substantial 29% decrease in total retail sales, heavily impacted by the Oil & Gas and Transportation sectors.
Key Highlights
- 1Global retail machine sales declined 11% for the three-month rolling period ended November 2015 compared to the prior year.
- 2The Resource Industries segment saw a significant 28% decrease in retail machine sales globally.
- 3Construction Industries experienced a 7% decline in global retail machine sales.
- 4The Energy & Transportation segment reported a 29% decrease in total retail sales, with Oil & Gas and Transportation being particularly weak.
- 5Latin America showed the steepest decline in machine retail sales, down 37% globally.
- 6Asia/Pacific also experienced a notable 17% decrease in machine retail sales.
- 7The data is based on unaudited dealer reports and is intended to indicate trends, not to predict financial results.