Cutter
Guest
You have got to STOP comparing products of different industries and applications. Comparing a multi-1,000 ton capacity _ multi-million dollar mining machine to an agricultural or construction machine is not logical! They participate in their own markets and economies of scale with their own margins, which should be thought of in terms of percent and not dollars. To understand this is not to understand it from a local farming perspective but from one of management. The reason Cat mining products are always compared to Cat agriculture products is because it is so simple to compare the magnitude of these different lines of product and their price comparison (product managers, brokers and investors do not see it that way and they are the owners of these companies). Well, to anyone who manages their own farm cares more about their margins than they do the price of inputs.You are right in saying that Cat left the ag business, but only left the manufacturing and marketing of whole goods (tractos, combines, tillage). What most do not understand that there is more money to be made and more influence to be had in the agricultural industry as a component supplier. By supplying other equipment manufacturers with premium grade _ value added compnents to improve the overall application of a product will lend itself to improved market acceptance and market share. Cat has always been a renowned leader and still is today in engine, power and drivetrain, electrical and hydraulic technologies and lending this technology as both, a components supplier and marketer of intellectual property will provide other equipment manufacturers to capitalize on Cat success. Therefore, to say Cat is out is to say they are very much involved, more so than before. And, those products allowed to continue on the "legal" Cat Brand (lexion and Challenger rubber track tractors) extend Cat's influence and these products carry a large percentage of Cat technology (Challenger belted tractors, 100% Cat). I am more interested in knowing who else is going to adopt Cat technology that dwell on something as trivial as Cat exiting the Ag business. Simply selling a product line or two, leaving manufacturing and marketing is obvious. More importantly, this moved secured Cat with some very lucrative accounts and gave their cat dealers what they have been wanting since they started in Ag, a full line of products from which to choose and market. And, as for Deere and Cat merging, well, that is an issue for the federal trade commission to decide, dept. of justice only if thigs get hairy. But, if all you have to do is sell off an average line of lite-duty construction products to reduce product over-lap, that sounds simple enough to me.