By Tess Stynes
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) said it agreed to repurchase $1.5 billion
of its shares from Citibank in an accelerated stock-repurchase
transaction.
The Peoria, Ill.-based maker of engines and heavy equipment's
chairman and chief executive, Doug Oberhelman, said the stock
buyback will bring Caterpillar's share repurchases to about $2
billion this year.
Last week, Caterpillar reported its second-quarter profit fell
29% and said demand for mining equipment remains "severely
depressed" while sales of equipment used in construction and oil
exploration have also begun falling.
However, the company also left its profit forecast for the full
year unchanged and said the cost cuts it already made have allowed
it to keep its balance sheet strong enough to buy back more shares
and raise dividends.
On Tuesday, Caterpillar said that through the end of the second
quarter, the company has repurchased about $3 billion of its shared
under a $10 billion stock-buyback plan authorized in January 2014.
The buyback plan is set to expire at the end of 2018.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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