Caterpillar has today cut its profit and revenue guidance, saying the world's economic conditions "are weaker than we had previously expected."
The US firm is the world's largest construction and mining equipment maker.
Its results are watched closely as a sign of where the broader economy is headed.
Caterpillar said dealers want to reduce inventory, so they are ordering fewer products than end users want. It said it has reduced production, resulting in temporary shutdowns and layoffs.
The lower production levels will continue until orders from dealers and inventories line up with deliveries to end customers, Caterpillar added.
The company said it now expects 2012 revenue of $66 billion, with profit of $9 to $9.25 per share. Analysts had expected revenue of $67.2 billion, with profit of $9.41 per share. It expects 2013 revenue to be about the same as this year, in a range of up 5% to down 5%.
"We're not expecting rapid growth, and we're not predicting a global recession," chairman and chief executive Doug Oberhelman said.
Profit in the third quarter rose 49% to almost $1.7 billion, or $2.54 per share. That compares with profit of $1.14 billion, or $1.71 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 4.6% to $16.45 billion.
The results included a gain of $273 million, or 27 cents per share, from selling a majority interest in a logistics business. Analysts had been expecting a profit of $2.21 per share, on revenue of $16.64 billion.
The economy this year "has been a disappointment," Caterpillar said, with growth lower than expected in the US and China, and with much of Europe in recession.
