As a CAT stockholder I was disappointed by the big miss, but the majority of the miss was because of a huge increase in operating expenses. They are implementing a new order-to-delivery system that will increase their profitability in the years to come and they didn’t execute it very well apparently. They also took a charge relating to a pensio charge for a subsidiary. They did however not back off on their earnings and revenue targets for 2007. I plan to hold for several more years. The global building surge will subside at some point but the US housing market will recover in the years to cme and I also think states like CA will help drive earnings as they upgrade infrastructure. Also like DE and SLB and a host of other infrastructure, machinery, oil services companies.
