Caterpillar on the move, shares up 12% in the last month

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) may have seen a bottom at $21.71 back in March, the stock has been steadily gaining since that time and today's sales numbers for excavators is fuel to the fire to keep the rally alive.

Today CAT shares are up 3.9% to $34.07, here's the scoop from the WSJ:

Caterpillar Inc.'s top executive said the company's excavator sales in China had resumed record levels in recent months, a sharp bounceback from a deep slump over the winter months.

Excavator sales in China for the Peoria-Ill.-based heavy equipment maker had been around 600 a month before the start of the financial crisis last September, Chairman and Chief Executive James W. Owens said. Sales then plummeted and many orders were canceled, he said.

"In January, I think we sold five," Mr. Owens said, in an appearance at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

He said the company's overall Asian sales were up 42% in the third quarter. For the fourth quarter, he said, there was almost a "complete seizure" of sales and heavy cancellations of back orders.

Mr. Owens said excavator sales in China were "back to record levels" in March-April. He declined to say whether the level matched the 600 monthly figure from before the crisis.

The Chinese market had "bounced back faster than anywhere else," he said.

Mr. Owens credited China's infrastructure-based stimulus package with the turnaround. He said China continued to have great needs for infrastructure and was able to start work on projects much more quickly than similar work in the U.S.

"It's something like nine months [in the U.S.] versus nine weeks" in China, he said.

Last week, Caterpillar reported sharply lower earnings and sales for the first quarter and lowered its outlook for the year.

SOURCE: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124101603545368769.html?mod=googlenews_wsj