Caterpillar Inc. And Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. Outlook Revised To Negative On Continued End-Market Weakness

We expect Caterpillar Inc.'s energy and mining end markets to remain challenged over the next 12 months. It is unclear exactly when the company's end markets will meaningfully recover as they currently face an excess supply of equipment, which we believe could delay Caterpillar from improving its operating results. Therefore, we are revising our outlook on Caterpillar Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. to negative from stable. At the same time, we are affirming all of our ratings on the company and its subsidiaries, including our 'A/A-1' corporate credit rating. The negative outlook on Caterpillar reflects the risk that the company's end markets and profitability will not stabilize over the next 12-24 months, causing its funds

...+ We expect Caterpillar Inc.'s energy and mining end markets to remain challenged over the next 12 months. + It is unclear exactly when the company's end markets will meaningfully recover as they currently face an excess supply of equipment, which we believe could delay Caterpillar from improving its operating results. + Therefore, we are revising our outlook on Caterpillar Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Caterpillar Financial Services Corp. to negative from stable. + At the same time, we are affirming all of our ratings on the company and its subsidiaries, including our 'A/A-1' corporate credit rating. + The negative outlook on Caterpillar reflects the risk that the company's end markets and profitability will not stabilize over the next 12-24 months, causing its funds from operations (FFO)-to-debt ratio to deteriorate below 30% over the next two years. NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) Nov. 21, 2016--S&P Global Ratings said today that it has revised its outlook on Peoria, Ill.-based...

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