Caterpillar Profit Tops Estimates; Shares Slip

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Caterpillar(CAT) , the maker of construction and mining equipment, reported first-quarter profit Wednesday of $1.58 billion, or $2.37 a share, up from year-earlier earnings of $1.23 billion, or $1.84 a share.

Analysts were estimating earnings of $2.13 a share.

Sales rose 23% to $16 billion.

Caterpillar raised its 2012 profit outlook to $9.50 a share, up from previous guidance of $9.25 a share.

Shares of Caterpillar fell 1.34% in premarket trading Wednesday to $106.95. The stock has risen 19.65% year to date.

-- Written by Alexandra Zendrian

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