Caterpillar

An Internal Analysis The Beginning It started as a new and innovative agricultural tool for farmers in the Western part of the United States in 1871. The company that built it quickly discovered, through environmental scanning, more uses beyond farming. Some of those uses included hauling freight and timber, just as a locomotive would, but without the restriction of railroad tracks. Other effective uses of this product came to include road building and earthmoving at construction …

…S&P 500 Gross Margin 30.6 28.8 44.6 Pre-Tax Margin 3.5 2.8 8.0 Net Profit Margin 4.5 2.3 4.8 5Yr Gross Margin (5-Year Avg.) 32.6 29.4 46.7 5Yr PreTax Margin (5-Year Avg.) 9.9 7.5 10.5 5Yr Net Profit Margin (5-Year Avg.) 6.8 5.0 6.8 Financial Condition Company Industry S&P 500 Debt/Equity Ratio 2.13 1.50 1.05 Current Ratio 1.4 1.7 1.4 Quick Ratio 1.0 1.2 0.9 Interest Coverage 2.3 1.8 2.2 Leverage Ratio 5.4 4.6 5.3 Book Value/Share 16.48 16.01 11.06 Investment Returns % Company Industry S&P 500 Return On Equity 16.1 7.9 10.4 Return On Assets 3.0 1.7 2.0 Return On Capital 5.2 3.2 5.0 Return On Equity (5-Year Avg.) 26.2 16.9 16.2 Return On Assets (5-Year Avg.) 5.5 4.0 2.8 Return On Capital (5-Year Avg.) 9.7 8.0 7.8