Who Is The Caterpillar Tractor Company?

I chose to write my paper on the company Caterpillar Inc. because I wanted to write my paper on a company that I knew a lot about and had a great interest in. I have previously done summer internships in the Caterpillar dealership in my country which has taught me a bit about the business.

Caterpillar Inc. is a heavy machinery company that was founded in California in 1925 with the merger of Holt Manufacturing Company and C.L. Best Tractor Company to create the Caterpillar Tractor Company. Since its inception it has become the leading provider of heavy machinery equipment in the world (Caterpillar FORM 10-K, 2013). It is considered to be the 91st best company on the Forbes 500 and Caterpillar Inc. stock is part of the Dow Jones Industrial

basically dominates its respective market with a 40% share of the heavy equipment market and with the next closest competitor being Komatsu with 11.5% (Ritchie, 2015). Aside from its excellent service, I would have to say the reason for its high market share is also because of Caterpillars longevity. Caterpillar has been in business for over a 100 years and it has had to evolve and adapt to the current market situation. Even in its earlier days it was in the forefront of innovation something that it continues to do today. Although I believe its competitors will probably gain a bit of market share soon, specifically Komatsu. The value of the Yen has fallen ever since the start of 2013. This has greatly reduced the price of Komatsu machinery because it allows foreign markets to buy them for a lot cheaper. This may put a strain on Caterpillar especially in Asia and emerging countries since Komatsu was already cheaper than Caterpillar to begin with. This is true in the Philippines where Komatsu has a larger market share than

is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. They first began trading on the NYSE in 1929 (Stock Trade History, n.d.). The stock peaked at $111.35 in 2011 and has a 52 week high of $94.66 and a 52 week low of $62.99 (Caterpillar Inc., n.d.). Its peak coincides with the high oil prices in 2011 which makes sense because the heavy machinery industry is heavily intertwined with the oil industry. Unfortunately its stock has plummeted in recent months amid news of weak projected sales and a plan to remove thousands of jobs. However with all of that in mind I think there is some potential for this stock. The stock is at its lowest point in five years and in my opinion I do not think it will go any lower barring a recession or depression. The global economy is still recovering from the recession of 2008 and when it does Caterpillar will be primed to get more customers. Emerging economies will also prove to be important for Caterpillar. As these countries seek to improve infrastructure and advance they will need the heavy equipment from Caterpillar. An example of this would be in the Philippines where sales for Caterpillar continue to grow in a currently thriving Philippine