Repeats Buzz first published on Wednesday. No changes to text
** Shares of Caterpillar Inc CAT.N down 0.6% to $813.10 ahead of Q1 results due before the opening bell on Thurs, with investors watching for continued growth in its power segment from the AI boom
** The maker of construction and mining equipment is expected to post a 17% rise in qtrly rev to $16.61 bln and adj EPS of $4.62, up from $4.25 a yr ago, per LSEG
** CAT has met or beaten EPS estimates in five of past eight quarters, with most recent miss in Q2 2025
** CAT shares on track for fourth straight daily decline, longest streak of declines this year
** Co recently announced its CFO will retire in Oct and has warned of about $2.6 bln in tariff-related costs for 2026
** Among the 30 analysts who cover Caterpillar Inc, the breakdown of recommendations is 15 "strong buy" or "buy," 12 "hold" and 3 "sell" ratings
** Median price target of $769 up from $700 a month ago
** CAT recently traded at 33 times expected earnings, well above its five-year avg forward PE of 17, per LSEG data
** CAT shares up ~41.7% YTD vs 1.5% gain in Dow Industrials .DJI
** CAT options imply a 5.5% swing for the shares, in either direction by Friday, per Trade Alert data; that's higher than the stock's avg move of 4.1% on the day of results over the last eight qtrs
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, additional reporting by Saqib Ahmed)
((charles.mikolajczak@tr.com; @chuckmik.bsky.social))