Digger firm, Caterpillar, bets on recovery

Caterpillar is the best- performing US industrial stock this year on bets its cost-cutting efforts will reap rewards as demand recovers. The problem is, demand is not recovering.

The world’s biggest maker of construction and mining equipment is expected to forecast a fifth straight annual sales decline in 2017 when it reports quarterly earnings later today.

Revenue will slip to $39.5bn (€36.3bn) in 2017 from $40.1bn this year, according to the average of analysts’ estimates. It was $47bn in 2015.