Caterpillar, Inc.

Caterpillar is the world's greatest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment. The company's products, with their distinctive paint job, are the industry benchmark for reliability and dependability. With well over $40 billion in annual revenues, Caterpillar is an effective proxy for world economic growth. With the global economy poised to grow at more than 5% this year, Caterpillar is going to see tremendous business around the world.

Caterpillar has an ugly history of labor strikes and strife between the company's union and its management. In the early 1980s, labor strikes and an economic downturn nearly destroyed the company. The corporate response was to build new production in non-union towns and hire "permanent replacements" for striking workers. The strategy worked and the power of the union withered.

Today, Caterpillar is a promoter of the "6 Sigma" program which seeks to drive down costs and inefficiency by finding weaknesses in products and processes at the company.

Caterpillar does nearly half of its business outside the United States. Global economic activity outside the United States looks stronger than domestic activity in the near-term and Caterpillar is ready to take advantage of that to grow its business.