Earnings
Supplier Earnings Roundup: CAT, Eaton, ITW
It's another week for industrial manufacturers' financial reports. We recap the key figures for thee of them here.
MDM is in the midst of another quarterly financials reporting period for publicly-traded industrial distributors and manufacturers. Read below to learn about the most recent sales and revenue numbers for companies MDM typically covers, including: construction equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, Ireland-based power management supplier Eaton and industrial products and equipment maker Illinois Tools Works (ITW).
Caterpillar
On Oct. 31, the company reported 3Q 2023 earnings, which included revenues of $846 million, an increase of 23% compared with the third quarter of 2022. The increase was primarily due to a $118 million favorable impact from higher average financing rates, CAT said. Year-over-year sales growth was 12%; however, that was down from 22% reported in 2Q 2023 and 18% in 1Q 2023. Third-quarter 2023 profit was $98 million, a decrease of $33 million — or 25% — compared with $131 million in 3Q 2022.
Profit before income taxes for 3Q 2023 was $170 million, a decrease of $18 million — or 10% — compared with $188 million in 3Q 2022. The decrease was mainly due to a $51 million unfavorable impact from a higher provision for credit losses mostly driven by the absence of prior year reserve releases, partially offset by a $24 million favorable impact from mark-to-market adjustments on derivative contracts, CAT said. During 3Q 2023, retail new business volume was $2.89 billion, an increase of $169 million — or 6% — compared with $2.73 billion in 3Q 2022.
Earlier this month, the company announced that Joseph E. Creed, Group President of Energy & Transportation, has been appointed to the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer, effective Nov. 1.
Eaton
For 3Q 2023, the company said sales were $5.9 billion, a quarterly record and an increase of 11% from 3Q 2022. Organic sales were up 9%, and positive currency translation added 2%. Eaton also reported record quarterly segment margins of 23.6%, 240 basis points above 3Q 2022, with a 46% incremental margin.
Operating cash flow was a third-quarter record $1.1 billion, and free cash flow was $913 million, up 18% and 10%, respectively, over the same period in 2022. The company’s backlog was up 18% over 3Q 2022, up 4% sequentially, Eaton said.
In 3Q 2023, sales for the Electrical Americas segment were a record $2.6 billion, up 19% from 3Q 2022, driven entirely by organic sales growth. Sales for the Electrical Global segment were a third-quarter record $1.5 billion, up 1% from the third quarter of 2022. Organic sales were flat, with positive currency translation adding 2%, partially offset by the impact of a small divestiture.
ITW
For its third quarter of 2023, ITW reported revenue of $4.0 billion, an increase of just 0.5% over the same period last year. Operating income, however, was $1.1 billion, an increase of 9%, while operating margin was 26.5%, an increase of 200 bps.
On an equal days’ basis, organic growth was 2% during 3Q 2023. Operating cash flow was $982 million, and free cash flow was $856 million, an increase of 40 percent over 3Q 2022. ITW also said it is narrowing the range of its full year GAAP EPS guidance from $9.55 to $9.95 per share to a range of $9.65 to $9.85 per share.

