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Announcement :: Israel / Palestine |
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Stunning Success at CAT Meeting |
Current rating: 0 |
by David Green
Email: davegreen48 (nospam) yahoo.com (verified) |
21 Apr 2005
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From Jewish Voice for Peace, based on San Francisco: "We're simply ecstatic about the work of diverse groups that came together to call on CAT to end the sale of weaponized bulldozers to the Israeli military, including Stop Caterpillar-Chicago, US Campaign to End the Occupation, the Sisters of Loretto, Mercy Investment Group, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch." |
All of us at JVP, especially the members of the Caterpillar committee, are just catching our breath after the build-up to the Caterpillar annual meeting in Chicago on April 13. Still, we couldn't wait to let you know what happened. We're simply ecstatic about the work of diverse groups that came together to call on CAT to end the sale of weaponized bulldozers to the Israeli military, including Stop Caterpillar-Chicago, US Campaign to End the Occupation, the Sisters of Loretto, Mercy Investment Group, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
On the global front, protests were held in over 30 cities around the world, bringing massive attention to CAT's role in profiting from violating human rights and perpetuating the occupation.
Shareholder resolutions are non-binding, so the goal is not to win all the votes but rather to shine a spotlight on the issue -- a spotlight that cannot be ignored by CAT board of directors. In that,we were successful beyond our wildest dreams.
The issue of home demolitions of Palestinian homes dominated the entire meeting, ensuring that the staff and board of directors of CAT will be dealing with this issue for a long time to come. CAT CEO Jim Owens spent the majority of the meeting asking, "Does anyone have anything else to talk about, anything related to business?" Of course the only business that most people attending wanted to talk about was home demolitions and sales to the Israeli military.
Three people from the American Jewish Congress and Stand With Us also attended the meeting. JVP Co-Director Liat Weingart spoke to Rosz Rothstein, the representative from Stand With Us, who shockingly told Weingart that Palestinians do not own their land. "What do they expect will happen if they build a house in Yosemite? If you build on land that isn't yours, how can you expect that it won't be demolished?" We took heart in the knowledge that AJCongress and Stand With Us are out of touch with both the US administration's understanding of the conflict and with mainstream American Jewish opinion, which is much more peace-minded and respectful of human rights.
JVP board member Sara Norman gave a stunning speech to introduce our shareholder resolution, saying that investigating CAT bulldozers' role in destroying civilian homes is "responsible corporate decision-making." Our resolution got 3% of the vote, meaning we won the support of investors holding close to 3/4 billion dollars of CAT stock, including CalPERS, the largest pension fund in the world.
Finally, we achieved feature coverage in dozens of media outlets throughout the world including the LA Times, the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, the Associated Press, and Reuters. One of America's most respected business programs, NPR's Marketplace, also featured the campaign as the second story on their evening program on April 13. As the Chicago Tribune reported, CAT suffered a "punishing public relations campaign" this past year.
The campaign is starting to have a clear financial impact on the company. Whereas in 2001, only 3 stories ran in major media connecting CAT bulldozers with human rights abuses, already in the first quarter of 2005, 275 similar stories have run in major English language publications. One commentator documented that CAT stock went down by 8.5% on the week of the shareholder vote, as compared to a 6% decrease for competitor John Deere. On the week of an annual meeting, it's very unusual that a company's stock decrease, rather than increase, given that the focus of an annual meeting is to highlight the strengths and accomplishments of the company.
Now, with partners all over the world taking action to stop CAT sales to the Israeli military and to divest from corporations that irresponsibility profit from the occupation, the tide is starting to turn.
Cecilie Surasky
Jewish Voice for Peace |
This work is in the public domain |
Comments
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Re: Stunning Success at CAT Meeting |
by Really
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
21 Apr 2005
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Here's the latest on Cat's earnings:
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) -- Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. posted record first-quarter profits on Wednesday, riding an ongoing sales surge that outpaced Wall Street's expectations and boosted the company's earnings estimates for the year.
You're just dreaming, folks. Your naivete is touching. |
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Re: "a clear financial impact on the company" |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
21 Apr 2005
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PEORIA, Ill., Apr 20, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Heavy equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc. posted record first-quarter profits on Wednesday, riding an ongoing sales surge that outpaced Wall Street's expectations and boosted the company's earnings estimates for the year.
The Peoria-based manufacturer's net income was $581 million for the quarter, or $1.63 a share, up 38 percent from $412 million, or $1.16 a share, during the same quarter a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected a profit of $1.36 a share.
Caterpillar, the world's No. 1 maker of earth-moving equipment, reported sales of $8.34 billion for the quarter that ended March 31, up 29 percent from $6.47 billion a year ago and easily eclipsing analyst estimates of $7.3 billion in sales.
Machinery sales increased as much as 49 percent in Latin America. Engine sales dipped 19 percent in Latin America, which completed a large marine project in 2004, but rose everywhere else, including a 38 percent increase in North America.
"Housing, general construction, mining. Everything is up across the board," Chief Financial Officer David Burritt said.
Buoyed by the year's strong start, the company boosted its 2005 outlook and now expects revenues will grow 16 to 18 percent and profit per share will rise 35 percent to 40 percent from 2004. The company had predicted sales would grow 12 percent to 15 percent and that per-share earnings would rise 25 percent.
On a down day for the Dow Jones industrials, shares of Caterpillar rose $3.09, or 3.6 percent, to close at $88.02 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Caterpillar has been one of the Dow's strongest performers over the past year, rising to a 52-week high of $99.96 per share on March 4. But the stock has fallen as investors worried that high raw material costs and rising oil prices might eat into profits.
Company officials predicted booming sales could mirror past upturns that stretched for as long as seven years.
"I think that's very plausible," said Charlie Rentschler, an analyst with Langenberg & Co. LLC.
"These record results are further evidence of the strength of the many global markets we serve and of our ability to successfully meet this continuing strong market demand," Chairman and CEO Jim Owens said in a prepared statement.
Recent price increases for machinery and engines and favorable foreign currency exchange rates - primarily the strengthening euro and British pound - also helped boost earnings, the company said.
Last year, Cat's share price routinely dipped when the company announced earnings that set records but fell short of investor expectations. Owens said price increases and operating efficiencies have helped offset high material costs that held down earnings in 2004.
The company has increased prices three times in the past 13 months, and has announced another 1 percent to 5 percent increase that takes effect next month. The increases boosted first-quarter profits by $250 million, and will generate $1.7 billion for the year, Burritt said.
Those increases, along with speeding up material deliveries that slowed production last year, helped Caterpillar raise profit margins and comfort investors, Rentschler said.
"They are finally starting to flex their tremendous pricing power. They are so dominant that they have an inherently enviable position when it comes to pricing," Rentschler said.
Demand for equipment and engines boosted Caterpillar's global work force to nearly 80,000 at the end of the first quarter, up from about 71,000 during the same quarter a year ago.
The company is riding its strongest rebound in three decades. Sales jumped 33 percent in 2004, topping the $30 billion mark for the first time. Profits climbed 85 percent to more than $2 billion.
Along with its trademark line of yellow construction and mining equipment, the company designs and produces engines for earth-moving and construction machinery. It also is the world's leading manufacturer of electrical generators.
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I could repeat my usual comment about how the stopcat folks are working the wrong end of the supply chain, and that there's a pretty strong reality disconnect, but I think the AP story above sez it better than I could.
@%< |
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Re: Stunning Success at CAT Meeting |
by Really
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
22 Apr 2005
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It's not a question (at least to me) of whether Cat should be making these things. It's rather the delusion that the approach to the issue described here can possibly be effective. I would think that, in any kind of vote, a three percent share would be considered something less than a "stunning success." Indeed, by any reasonable standard it's less than nothing. |
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Re: Stunning Success at CAT Meeting |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
22 Apr 2005
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Yes, you have to wonder -- if a thirty-to-one defeat of a proposal (a defeat so lopsided I've heard it precludes the same measure from being brought up again next year) and a record quarter from Cat constitutes "stunning success," I can't help but wonder what defeat looks like.
In the meantime, I'm sure that the folks at Fiat-Hitachi, Komatsu, John Deere, Case, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, and New Holland are cheering this campaign along, because they know what these folks haven't quite put together yet.
@%< |
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CAT is a stunning success on the NYSE |
by Joe Futrelle
futrelle (nospam) shout.net (verified) |
Current rating: 0
22 Apr 2005
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> One commentator documented that CAT stock went down by 8.5% on the week of the shareholder vote, as compared to a 6% decrease for competitor John Deere. On the week of an annual meeting, it's very unusual that a company's stock decrease, rather than increase, given that the focus of an annual meeting is to highlight the strengths and accomplishments of the company.
Um, that week, the broader market plunged. The DJIA fell almost 4%, the NASDAQ lost about 4.5%, and the S&P 500 shed about 4%. It was by far the sharpest one-week drop in the major indexes since the beginning of the year.
CAT stock has been outperforming the major indexes for about six months. For instance, it's flat from two months ago, and the major indexes are down between 3 and 6% for the same period.
It's been outperforming John Deere since last summer. |
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Re: Stunning Success at CAT Meeting |
by gehrig
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
22 Apr 2005
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Quoting the AP: "Caterpillar has been one of the Dow's strongest performers over the past year, rising to a 52-week high of $99.96 per share on March 4. But the stock has fallen as investors worried that high raw material costs and rising oil prices might eat into profits."
So even when it was falling, it wasn't falling due to the activists, according to everyone but the activists themselves.
@%< |
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