Caterpillar has a big second quarter, raises outlook again

Caterpillar’s second-quarter easily beat Wall Street expectations thanks in part to the blistering pace of construction and demand for big machines, a the company boosted its full-year earnings forecast again.

Shares rose more than 3 percent Monday in premarket trading.

Caterpillar now anticipates full-year adjusted earnings in a range of $11 to $12 per share. In April the company raised its outlook to between $10.25 and $11.25 per share, from $8.25 to $9.25 per share.

Caterpillar Inc. earned $1.71 billion, or $2.82 per share in the quater. Excluding one-time gains or losses, per-share earnings were $2.97, far exceeding projections of $2.73 per share from industry analysts.

A year earlier the Deerfield-based company earned $802 million, or $1.35 per share.

Revenue climbed to $14.01 billion, from $11.33 billion.