Caterpillar and Merck Exceed Q1 Earnings Expectations, Boost Full-Year Forecasts

Caterpillar and Merck & Co. reported strong first-quarter earnings, surpassing analysts' expectations. Caterpillar's adjusted earnings per share (EPS) were $5.60, beating the forecast of $5.13, with revenue reaching $15.80 billion, slightly below the expected $16.12 billion. The company also reported an adjusted operating income of $3.51 billion and deployed $5.1 billion in cash for share repurchases and dividends. Merck's adjusted EPS came in at $2.07, exceeding estimates of around $1.88 to $1.93, with revenue at approximately $15.78 billion against forecasts ranging from $15.19 billion to $15.23 billion. Keytruda, Merck's cancer drug, generated $6.95 billion in revenue, a 20% increase, outperforming the expected $6.7 billion. Merck also revised its full-year revenue forecast upwards to between $63.1 billion and $64.3 billion.