Caterpillar plans up to 5,000 job cuts, possibly more, lowers revenue expectation

Caterpillar is cutting as many as 5,000 jobs as the construction and mining equipment maker pushes to reduce costs while dealing with downturns in key markets that it serves.

The Illinois-based heavy equipment company says it faces challenging conditions in key sectors, such as mining and energy and estimated the job cuts and other expense reductions will reduce annual operating costs by around US$1.5 billion.

Caterpillar also is dropping its 2015 revenue forecast by $1 billion to about US$48 billion, and it says sales for 2016 should be about five per cent lower.

The company's stock fell to US$64.65 in intraday trade at the New York Stock Exchange, its lowest level in more than a year, before regaining some strength. The shares were down 6.5 per cent at US$65.65 at mid-morning.

Shares of Finning International, the world's largest Caterpillar dealer, were down 8.1 per cent in Toronto. Earlier, the Vancouver-based company's stock hit an intraday low of C$18.79 — near a multi-year low of $18.57 set one month ago.

Caterpillar said most of the job cuts announced Thursday will occur in 2015 in its salaried and management workforce. It said total cuts could exceed 10,000 people as the company considers factories and manufacturing sites to close through 2018.

The company employs more than 126,000 people worldwide. It has has trimmed its total workforce by more than 31,000 since the middle of 2012.

— with a file from The Canadian Press.

The Associated Press