Caterpillar 4Q results top Street; OKs $10B buyback; 2014 forecast above analysts' estimates

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

FILE - This Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013, file photo shows a parking lot at Caterpillar Belgium, in Gosselies, Belgium. Caterpillar Inc. reports quarterly financial results before the market opens on Monday, Jan. 27, 2014. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe, File)

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Caterpillar's fourth-quarter net income rose compared with results weighed down by a large impairment charge a year ago. Its results topped Wall Street's view.

The Peoria, Ill.=based company's board approved a new $10 billion buyback, and provided a 2014 forecast above analysts' estimates.

Shares climbed in premarket trading Monday.

For the period ended Dec. 31, Caterpillar Inc. — which makes mining gear, construction and forestry equipment and large power generators — earned $1 billion, or $1.54 per share. That compares with $697 million, or $1.04 per share, a year earlier.

The prior-year period included an impairment charge of 87 cents per share, partially offset by a tax settlement of 45 cents per share.

Revenue declined 10 per cent to $14.4 billion from $16.08 billion.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of $1.27 per share on revenue of $13.41 billion.