A FIRST LOOK at the equipment markets in 2014: 2013 has been a tough year for construction machinery manufacturers thus far

摘要

Overall second quarter revenues were down approximately 5%. Profits were down more than 12%. And it is distributors' surplus inventories which seem to be the problem. They have been reducing their inventories throughout 2013. Companies like Caterpillar expect that their distributors will continue to reduce inventories for the balance of 2013. Dealers will rely on the manufacturers they represent to stock the machines they need when they need them, essentially removing the burden of inventory from their balance sheets. In total, the publicly owned distributors I follow had year-to-date gains of about 1% and profit gains of 2%. During 2012 distributors loaded up on new equipment in their rental fleets called "dealer operated rental yards," or DORYs for short. This year they are not buying as many machines for their fleets. Manufacturers' sales to DORYs are down 5 to 15% depending on the product category. However, sales to non-rental customers are up as much as 10%. The expectation is that the 2013 market will be up a net 5% or so.