NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 15, 2007--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings and outlook on Caterpillar Inc. (A/Stable/A-1) are not affected following the company's announcement that it had received an authorization from its board of directors to repurchase $7.5 billion of the company's common stock. Caterpillar indicated that it expected to complete the new authorization during the next five years. The new authorization replaces an existing $6.4 billion authorization from October 2003, which will be completed in the next few months. Caterpillar's current and expected free cash flow generation should be adequate to undertake the authorized share repurchases without harming the company's credit profile. Caterpillar's free cash flow from equipment operations significantly increased between 2004
