Equipment maker Caterpillar slips on Wall St.

Jul 24 2011

Equipment maker Caterpillar slips on Wall St.

Disappointing earnings from industrial giant Caterpillar cast a bit of gloom across Wall Street on Friday, but upbeat results from a batch of technology companies helped underpin the stock market.

The mining and construction equipment maker, hit by rising costs, reported a profit a few cents shy of analysts’ expectations. Its shares tumbled nearly 6%, weighing on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Caterpillar, the world’s largest heavy equipment maker, hiked its full-year forecasts, but investors fixated on its cautious view of the global economy.

The broad Standard and Poor’s 500 inched higher, however, and the tech-packed Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.9%, boosted by forecast-topping results from computer processor maker AMD and others.

AMD’s shares surged 19% after it said its sales would jump 12% in the third quarter. Analysts had been expecting growth of only about 8% as the huge popularity of items like the iPad bites into personal computer sales.

Strong demand for flash memory devices that store data in smartphones and tablet computers, as well as cost-cutting, boosted revenues at SanDisk. The company’s sales climbed 17% and sailed past Wall Street forecasts.

Fast-food giant McDonald’s shares rose after it supersized its profits, luring more customers with its McCafé coffees and frozen drinks.

In June, the company’s same-store sales, which exclude recently opened or closed stores, rose 7.7% worldwide and 6.9% in the U.S., their largest jumps in around three years.

General Electric beat forecasts thanks to a turnaround at its financial arm, GE Capital, offsetting weakness in its energy unit, but investors drove its shares a touch lower anyway.

Mobile phone company Verizon Wireless also beat analysts’ profit estimates and lured more subscribers. But its shares slipped 2% on news it had signed up 1.3 million fewer iPhone users than rival AT&T and its users spent less per month than expected.

With News Wire Services

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