Jim Umpleby: Thanks, Ryan. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'd like to start by thanking our global team for a strong first quarter, including double-digit top line growth, higher operating profit margins, record adjusted profit per share and strong ME&T free cash flow. Our results reflect healthy customer demand to most end markets for our products and services. We remain focused on executing our strategy and continue to invest for long-term profitable growth. In today's call, I'll begin with my perspectives on our performance in the quarter. I'll then provide some insights on our end markets. Lastly, I'll provide an update on our sustainability journey. It was a very strong quarter. Sales and revenues were better than we expected, with price realization, dealer inventory and sales to users each slightly better than we anticipated. Sales to users were higher than expected in Energy & Transportation and Resource Industries. Overall, sales and revenues rose by 17% versus the first quarter of 2022. The year-over-year increase was due to strong price realization and volume growth, which was driven by higher sales of equipment to end users. We achieved double-digit top line increases in each of our three primary segments. Adjusted operating profit margins increased to 21.1% in the first quarter, as we saw margins improve, both on a sequential and year-over-year basis. The adjusted operating profit margins were significantly better than we had anticipated primarily due to better-than-expected manufacturing costs, including efficiencies and absorption, stronger price realization and volume growth. Andrew will discuss in detail later. Backlog ended the quarter at $30.4 billion, flat relative to the fourth quarter of 2022. Equipment availability increased during the quarter due to improving supply chain conditions. While dealer order rates are lower, they remain at healthy levels. As you know, as availability improves, order rates typically normalize, as dealers can wait longer to place orders for long lead time items. Our healthy backlog continues to underpin our constructive views about our end markets. Despite the improvement in supply chain, pockets of challenge remain as we increase production, particularly for large engines, which impacts energy and transportation and some of our larger machines. We delivered a strong first quarter, which positions us well for an even better year in 2023 than we previously anticipated. While we continue to closely monitor global macroeconomic conditions, overall demand remains healthy across our products and services. Turning to Slide 4, in the first quarter of 2023, sales and revenues increased 17% versus last year at $15.9 billion. This was primarily due to favorable price and volume growth. Compared with the first quarter of 2022, overall sales to users increased 13%. For Construction Industries and Resource Industries, sales to users rose by 5%, while Energy & Transportation was up 39%. Sales to users in Construction Industries were flat, in line with our expectations. North American sales to users increased, as demand remained healthy for both nonresidential and residential, despite some moderation of the growth rate in residential. Overall, our North American sales to users were better than we expected. EAME also saw higher sales to users, led by strength in the Middle East. In Latin America and Asia Pacific, sales to users declined in the quarter. The decline in Asia Pacific included further weakening in China. In Resource Industries, sales to users increased 18%, which was our third consecutive quarter of accelerating sales to users. In Mining, sales to users benefited from a higher level of commissioning in the quarter. Within heavy construction and quarry and aggregates, sales to users also increased, supported by growth for infrastructure-related projects. In Energy & Transportation, sales to users increased by 39%. In the first quarter, oil and gas sales to users benefited from continued strength in new engine sales to customers, including repowering active fleets, upgrading technology to Tier 4 Dynamic Gas Blending and adding incremental gas compression units. We also saw strong sales of turbines and turbine-related services. Power Generation and Industrial sales to users continue to remain positive due to favorable market conditions. Transportation declined from a relatively low base primarily due to timing in marine deliveries, which was partially offset by deliveries of international locomotives. Dealer inventory increased by about $1.4 billion in the first quarter, which was slightly above our expectations compared to a $1.3 billion increase in the same quarter last year. In Construction Industries, the increase in dealer inventory was primarily due to stronger North American shipments, which remains our most constrained region. As we mentioned last quarter, over 70% of the combined dealer inventory in Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation is supported by customer orders. Moving to Slide 5, we generated strong ME&T free cash flow of $1.4 billion in the first quarter. We returned $1 billion to shareholders, which included about $600 million in dividends and $400 million in repurchase stock. We remain proud of our dividend aristocrat status and continue to expect to return substantially all ME&T free cash flow to shareholders over time through dividends and share repurchases. Now on Slide 6, I'll share some commentary on our expectations moving forward. While we continue to closely monitor global macroeconomic conditions, our first quarter results lead us to expect that 2023 will be even better than we had previously anticipated on both the top and bottom line. For 2023, we currently expect to be in the top half of the targeted range for both adjusted operating profit margin and ME&T free cash flow. Andrew will provide additional color. Before I discuss our outlook for key end markets, I'll provide some color on how we expect our top line to progress through this year. As I mentioned, we expect a strong top line for 2023, supported by price and higher sales to users, with healthy underlying end markets. We expect higher sales in the second quarter compared to the first, as is the typical seasonal pattern. Looking to the second half of 2023, it is important to highlight the second half of last year included the dealer inventory build of $1.4 billion, as dealers began to restock their inventories. We are not planning for this trend to repeat. Instead, we expect to see dealers decrease inventories compared to the first quarter levels and end 2023 about flat relative to the end of 2022. Although we expect sales to users to remain positive for our primary segments in each quarter, our planning assumption is that Caterpillar second half sales will have a dealer inventory impact. Let me explain. First, although dealer inventory in some products and regions have normalized, others remain constrained. For example, in North America, dealer inventory remains below the typical range for many products. However, there is greater excavator inventory in a few regions, as supply dynamics improved in 2022, which, coupled with the slowing in China, has resulted in improved excavation product availability. Given the improved availability of excavators, we expect that dealers will scale back their levels of excavator inventory in the second half of the year, even though demand remains healthy. As a reminder, dealers are independent businesses and control their own inventory. Second, in late 2023, we have scheduled a couple of new product changeovers in construction industry factories that will also impact the second half. Now I'll discuss our outlook for key end markets this year, starting with Construction Industries. In North America, overall, we continue to see positive momentum in 2023. We expect growth in nonresidential construction in North America due to the positive impact of government-related infrastructure investments and a healthy pipeline of construction projects. Although residential construction housing starts have softened, the growth rate of our residential construction equipment remains positive as the supply chain pressures alleviate. In Asia Pacific, excluding China, we expect growth in Construction Industries due to public infrastructure spending and supportive commodity prices. As we mentioned during our previous earnings calls, we expect China’s above ten-ton excavator industry to remain below 2022 levels due to low construction activity. In 2023, sales in China are expected to be below the typical range of 5% to 10% of total Caterpillar sales. In the EAME, business activity is now expected to increase versus last year based on healthy construction project activity, particularly strong construction demand in the Middle East. Although uncertain economic conditions remain, European construction is proving to be more resilient than we previously anticipated. Construction activity in Latin America is expected to be down in 2023 versus the strong 2022 performance. There is some concern about the potential impact of a commercial real estate slowdown. We estimate that North American commercial real estate accounts for about 1% of total construction industry sales. Any slowdown related to this sector should not have a significant impact on Construction Industries. In Resource Industries, we expect healthy mining demand to continue, as commodity prices remain above investment thresholds. As I have mentioned during the last few years, customers remain capital disciplined, which supports a gradual increase in mining over time. We anticipate production utilization levels will remain elevated. We also expect the aging of the fleet and a lower level of parked trucks to support future demand for our equipment and services. We continue to believe the energy transition will support increased commodity demand, expanding our total addressable market and providing further opportunities for profitable growth. In heavy construction and quarry and aggregates, we anticipate continued growth due to major infrastructure and nonresidential construction projects. In Energy & Transportation, we expect to follow our normal seasonal pattern, with higher sales in the second half of the year versus the first half. In oil and gas, reciprocating engines, although customers remain disciplined, we are encouraged by continued strength and demand for both well servicing and gas compression. Power generation reciprocating engine demand is expected to remain healthy, including strong data center growth. New equipment orders and services for solar turbines in both oil and gas and power generation are robust. Industrial remains healthy. In transportation, we anticipate strength in high-speed Marine as customers continue to upgrade aging fleets. Moving to Slide 7. We are contributing to a reduced carbon future and continue to invest in new products, technologies and services to help our customers achieve their climate-related objectives. We recently completed and upgraded more than 50 models across our entire next-generation hydraulic excavator line. The new models reduced fuel consumption by up to 25% compared to previous models and provide another option for customers to lower emissions, while improving operational efficiency. A customer can realize meaningful emissions reductions by simply moving to the newest next-gen model. This example reinforces our ongoing sustainability leadership and how we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world. In addition, we look forward to issuing our 18th annual sustainability report in May. With that, I'll turn the call over to Andrew.

ME&T free cash flow $1.4 billion first quarter


James Umpleby: Thanks, Ryan. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. As we close out the first half of 2023, I want to recognize our global team for delivering a very strong second quarter. This included double-digit top-line growth, higher adjusted operating profit margin, record adjusted profit per share and robust ME&T free cash flow. Our results continued to reflect healthy demand across most end markets for our products and services. We remain focused on executing our strategy and continue to invest for long-term profitable growth. In today's call, I'll begin with my perspectives on our performance in the quarter. I'll then provide some insights on our end markets. Lastly, I'll provide an update on our sustainability journey. It was another strong quarter. Sales and revenues increased 22% in the second quarter versus last year. Adjusted operating profit margin improved 21.3%, up sequentially and year-over-year. We also generated $2.6 billion of ME&T free cash flow in the quarter. Our second quarter results were better than we expected for sales and revenues, adjusted operating profit margin, and ME&T free cash flow. In addition, we ended the quarter with a healthy backlog of $30.7 billion. We continue to see improvement in the supply chain, which allowed us to increase production in the quarter. However, areas of challenge remain, particularly for large engines, which impacts energy and transportation and some of our larger machines. While we continue to closely monitor global macroeconomic conditions, we now expect our 2023 results to be better than we had previously anticipated. Turning to Slide 4. In the second quarter of 2023, sales and revenues increased by 22% to $17.3 billion. This was primarily due to higher sales volume and price realization. Sales volumes were higher than we expected, largely due to an increase in dealer inventory relating to energy and transportation, which is supported by customer orders. We saw double-digit increases in sales and revenues in each of our three primary segments. Compared with the second quarter of 2022, overall sales to users increased 16%. For machines, which includes Construction Industries and Resource Industries, sales to users rose by 8%. Energy & Transportation was up 47%. Sales to users in Construction Industries were up 3%. North American sales to users increased and were better than expected as demand remained healthy for non-residential and residential construction. Non-residential continue to benefit from government-related infrastructure and construction projects. Residential sales to users in North America also increased in the quarter. EAME saw lower sales to users due to weaker than expected market conditions in Europe. The Middle East continued to demonstrate strong construction activity. In Latin America and Asia/Pacific, sales to users declined in the quarter. In Resource Industries, sales to users increased 26%. In mining, sales to users increased, supported by commodities remaining above investment thresholds. Within heavy construction and quarry and aggregates, sales to users also increased, supported by growth for infrastructure-related projects. In Energy & Transportation, sales to users increased by 47% in the second quarter. All applications saw higher sales to users in the quarter. Oil and gas sales to users benefited from strong sales of turbines and turbine-related services. We also saw continued strength in sales of reciprocating engines into oil and gas applications, such as Tier 4 dynamic gas blending, gas compression, and repowering active well servicing fleets. Power generation sales to users continued to remain positive due to favorable market conditions, including strong data center growth. Industrial and transportation sales to users also increased. Dealer inventories increased by $600 million in the quarter, led by energy and transportation. We are very comfortable with the total level of dealer inventory, which remains in the typical range. Adjusted operating profit margin increased to 21.3% in the second quarter as we saw improvements, both on a sequential and year-over-year basis. Adjusted operating profit margin was better than we had anticipated, primarily due to better than expected volume growth and lower than expected manufacturing costs, including freight. Moving to Slide 5. We generated strong ME&T free cash flow of $2.6 billion in the second quarter. We returned $2 billion to shareholders, which included about $1.4 billion in repurchase stock and $600 million in dividends. In June, we announced an 8% dividend increase. Since May of 2019, when we introduced our current capital allocation strategy, we have increased the quarterly dividend per share by 51%. We remain proud of our dividend aristocrat status and continue to expect to return to substantially all ME&T free cash flow to shareholders over time through dividends and share repurchases. Now on Slide 6, I'll describe our expectations moving forward. While we continue to closely monitor global macroeconomic conditions, our second quarter results lead us to expect that full-year 2023 will now be even better than we described during our last earnings call. We now expect adjusted operating profit margins to be close to the top of the targeted range relative to the corresponding expected level of sales. This positive operating performance increases our expectations for ME&T free cash flow, which we now expect to be around the top of the $4 billion to $8 billion range for the full-year. Our current expectations for adjusted operating profit margin and ME&T free cash flow reflect continuing healthy customer demand and our strong operating performance. Now I'll discuss our outlook for key end markets this year, starting with the Construction Industries. In North America, overall, we continue to see positive momentum in 2023. We expect continued growth in non-residential construction in North America due to the positive impact of government-related infrastructure investments and a healthy pipeline of construction projects. Although residential construction growth has moderated, we expect the rest of 2023 to remain healthy. In Asia/Pacific, excluding China, we expect growth in Construction Industries due to public infrastructure spending in support of commodity prices. We mentioned during our last earnings call that we expected sales in China to be below the typical 5% to 10% of our enterprise sales. We now expect further weakness as the 10-tons and above excavator industry has declined even more than we anticipated. In EAME, we anticipate that it will be flat to slightly up overall, with the Middle East exhibiting strong construction demand, whereas Europe is expected to be down. Construction activity in Latin America is expected to be down in 2023 versus a strong 2022 performance. In Resource Industries, we expect healthy mining demand to continue as commodity prices remain above investment thresholds. As I've mentioned previously, customers remain capital disciplined, which supports a gradual increase in mining over time. We anticipate production and utilization levels will remain elevated. We also expect the age of the fleet and the low level of park trucks to support future demand for our equipment and services. We continue to believe the energy transition will support increased commodity demand, expanding our total addressable market and providing further opportunities for profitable growth. In heavy construction and quarry and aggregates, we anticipate continued growth due to major infrastructure in non-residential construction projects. Now I'll discuss Energy & Transportation. For Cat reciprocating engines and oil and gas applications, although customers remain disciplined, we are encouraged by continuing strong demand for gas compression. Cat reciprocating engine demand for power generation is expected to remain healthy, including strong data center growth. New equipment orders and services for solar turbines in both oil and gas and power generation remain robust. Industrial continues to be healthy. In transportation, we anticipate strength in high speed marine as customers continued to upgrade aging fleets. Moving to Slide 7. We continued to advance our sustainability journey. Since our last quarterly earnings call, we published our 2022 sustainability report, which disclosed our estimated Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions for the first time. We also published our first ever task force on climate-related financial disclosures report. We're helping our customers achieve their climate-related goals by continuing to invest in new products, technologies and services that facilitate fuel flexibility, increased operational efficiency and reduced emissions. For example, a customer in Chile is realizing fuel savings and lower emissions after purchasing our Cat D6 XE, the world's first high drive diesel-electric drive dozer. The customer reported a 30% reduction in fuel consumption versus the previous model working in the same operation. This example reinforces our ongoing sustainability leadership in how we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world. With that, I'll turn the call over to Andrew.


Andrew Bonfield: Thank you, Jim, and good morning, everyone. I'll begin with commentary on the second quarter results, including the performance of our business segments. Then I'll discuss the balance sheet and free cash flow before concluding with our assumptions for the remainder of the year, including color on the third quarter. Beginning on Slide 8. Our team delivered a very strong second quarter as overall results exceeded our expectations on strong operating performance. We saw a healthy top-line growth, improved operating margins and robust ME&T free cash flow. For the year, we now expect our adjusted operating profit margin to be close to the top of the targeted range at our anticipated sales level. We also expect ME&T free cash flow to be around the top of our $4 billion to $8 billion target range. To summarize the results, sales and revenues increased by 22% or $3.1 billion to $17.3 billion. Sales increase versus the prior year was due to higher sales volume and price realization. Operating profit increased by 88% or $1.7 billion to $3.7 billion. The adjusted operating profit margin was 21.3%, an increase of 750 basis points versus the prior year. Adjusted profit per share increased by 75% to $5.55 in the second quarter compared to $3.18 last year. Profit per share was $5.67 in the second quarter of this year. This included a discrete deferred tax benefit of $0.17 per share, while restructuring costs were $0.05 per share, flat compared to the prior year. We continue to expect restructuring expenses of about $700 million for the full-year. Other income of $127 million in the quarter was lower than the second quarter of 2022 by $133 million. The year-over-year decline was primarily driven by an unfavorable currency impact related to ME&T balance sheet translation and a recurring increase in quarterly pension expense of approximately $80 million, which we initially spoke to you about in January. Higher investment and interest income acted as a partial offset. The provision for income tax in the second quarter, excluding discrete items reflected a global annual effective tax rate of approximately 23%, which remains our expectation for the full-year. Moving on to Slide 9. The 22% increase in the top-line versus the prior year was due to higher sales volume and price. Volume improved as sales to users increased by 16% and from changes in dealer inventory. Sales for the quarter were higher than we had anticipated, mostly due to volume. The volume outperformance reflected a dealer inventory increase, which was primarily due to our stronger than expected shipments in Energy & Transportation, particularly in power generation, which is in line with strong data center demand. Price realization was in line with our expectations for the quarter. As I mentioned, sales to users grew by 16% in the quarter. As Jim has discussed, demand remains healthy across most end markets for all our products and services and is supported by a healthy order backlog. Moving to Slide 10. Second quarter operating profit increased by 88%, while adjusted operating profit increased by 87% to $3.7 billion. Year-over-year favorable price realization and higher sales volume were partially offset by higher manufacturing costs, which largely reflected higher material costs. An increase in SG&A and R&D expenses included higher strategic investment spend. The adjusted operating profit margin of 21.3% was better than we had anticipated. Volume exceeded our expectations, which supported the margin outperformance. In addition, manufacturing costs increased less than we expected due to lower freight costs and a lower than anticipated impact from cost absorption. SG&A and R&D expenses were about in line. Moving to Slide 11. I'll review the segment performance. Construction Industries sales increased by 19% in the second quarter to $7.2 billion due to price realization and higher sales volume. By region, sales in North America rose by 32% due to higher sales volume and price realization. Stronger demand and supply chain improvements enabled stronger than expected shipments in North America. This supported stronger sales of equipment to end users and some delivery stocking in what remains our most constrained region. Sales in Latin America decreased by 11%, primarily due to lower sales volume, partially offset by price realization. In EAME, sales increased by 20%, primarily the result of higher sales volume and price realization. Sales in Asia/Pacific were about flat. Second quarter profit for Construction Industries increased by 82% versus the prior year to $1.8 billion. The increase was mainly due to price realization and higher sales volume. The segment's operating margin of 25.2% was an increase of 880 basis points versus last year. Margin exceeded our expectations, largely due to better than expected volume of freight costs, which were lower than we had anticipated. Turning to Slide 12. Resource Industries sales grew by 20% in the second quarter to $3.6 billion. The increase was primarily due to price realization and higher sales volume. Volume increased due to higher sales of equipment to end users. Although aftermarket sales volumes were lower, dealer sales to customers for services remained positive. Second quarter profit for Resource Industries increased by 108% versus the prior year to $740 million, mainly due to price realization and higher sales volume. This was partially offset by unfavorable manufacturing costs, largely material costs. The segment's operating margin of 20.8% was an increase of 880 basis points versus last year. The segment's margin was better than we had expected, primarily due to favorable volume, timing of SG&A and R&D spend and lower than anticipated freight costs. Now on Slide 13. Energy & Transportation sales increased by 27% in the second quarter to $7.2 billion. Sales were up double-digits across all applications. Oil and gas sales increased by 43%, power generation sales increased by 39%, industrial sales rose by 18% and transportation sales increased by 12%. Second quarter profit for Energy & Transportation increased by 93% versus the prior year to $1.3 billion. The increase was mainly due to higher sales volume and price realization, partially offset by unfavorable manufacturing costs and higher SG&A and R&D expenses. The segment's operating margin of 17.6% was an increase of 600 basis points versus last year. The margin was generally in line with our expectations. Moving to Slide 14. Financial Products revenue increased by 16% to $923 million, primarily due to higher average financing rates across all regions. Segment profit increased by 11% to $240 million. The increase was mainly due to a lower provision for credit losses at Cat Financial, partially offset by an increase in SG&A expense. Business activity remains strong, and our portfolio continues to perform well. Past dues in the quarter were 2.15%, a 4 basis points improvement compared to the second quarter of 2022. This is the lowest second quarter past dues percentage since 2007. Retail new business volume performed well, increasing versus the prior year and the first quarter. In addition, we continue to see strong demand for used equipment. Now on Slide 15. Our ME&T free cash flow generation was again robust as we generated $2.6 billion in the quarter. This was an increase of $1.5 billion compared to the prior year. With approximately $4 billion generated in the first half, we now expect ME&T free cash flow to be around the top of our $4 billion to $8 billion target range for the full-year. CapEx in the second quarter was about $300 million, and we still expect to spend around $1.5 billion for the full-year. As Jim mentioned, we returned about $2 billion through share repurchases and dividends in the second quarter. Our balance sheet remains strong. We have ample liquidity with an enterprise cash balance of $7.4 billion, and we also hold an additional $2 billion in slightly longer-dated liquid marketable securities to improve yields on that cash. Now turning to Slide 16. I will share some high level assumptions for the second half and the third quarter. In the second half of 2023, we expect higher total sales and revenues as compared to the second half of last year. We anticipate both sales to users and price realization will be positive in the second half. Keep in mind that on a comparative basis, we start to lap the stronger price we saw from the third quarter onwards last year. Caterpillar sales will be impacted by changes in dealer inventories as dealers increased their inventories in the second half of last year, which is not typical, versus our expectation of a more typical reduction in the second half of 2023. I want to spend just a few moments talking about dealer inventories. Dealers are independent businesses, and they make their own decisions around the level of inventory they hold. We obviously work closely with them because this impacts our production levels. As Jim mentioned, we are very comfortable with the levels of inventory that dealers are holding. We talk about dealer inventory in aggregate. This is difficult to predict with certainty as it arises from three different business segments, over 150 dealers and hundreds of different products. In Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation, dealer inventory is mainly a function of the commissioning pipeline. Keep in mind that over 70% of dealer inventory in these segments is backed by firm customer orders. For Construction Industries, dealer inventory is principally a function of end user demand and availability from the factory. In Construction Industries, dealers typically increase inventories during the first half of the year. Around 60% of the $2 billion increase during the first half of this year was from products in this segment. The remaining 40% is in Resource Industries and Energy & Transportation. For Resource Industries and Energy Transportation, we currently anticipate a slight reduction in levels in the second-half, but this is dependent on commissioning. In Construction Industries, dealers are currently holding around the midpoint of the typical three to four months range. Some dealers would like to increase inventories of certain products, such as BCP and earth moving due to strong customer demand. Conversely, some dealers would like to reduce the levels of excavated inventory because of high availability. In addition, we are scheduled to replace third-party engines with Cat engines and certain products, which will impact production in these products during the second half. Our current planning assumption for the Construction Industries is that dealers will reduce their overall levels in inventory in the second half of 2023 with a principal focus on excavators. Overall, at the enterprise level, we currently expect dealer inventory should be slightly higher at the end of 2023 versus last year. Moving on. On this slide, we provide our adjusted profit margins target charge to assist you in your modeling process. Based on our current planning assumptions, we anticipate full-year adjusted operating profit margin to be close to the top of that 300 basis points target range at our expected sales level. Your expectation for total enterprise sales this year will inform you where on the curve margins should finish for the year. Specific to the second half, we anticipate adjusted operating profit margins in the remaining quarters of the year will be above the year ago levels, although they will be lower than the levels we saw in the first two quarters of this year. As compared to the first half, we anticipate a margin headwind from cost absorption in the second half. We do not expect to build our inventory as we did in the first half and anticipate that there will be some inventory reduction if we continue to see sustained supply chain improvement. In addition, spend related to the strategic growth initiatives should continue to ramp. Price realization should remain positive that the magnitude of the favorability versus the prior year is expected to be lower in the second half as we lap the more favorable pricing trends from last year. Therefore, the increases in margins that we have occurred -- that have occurred from price outpacing manufacturing cost inflation should moderate in the second half of this year. Now let's move on to our assumptions that are specific to the third quarter. We anticipate third quarter sales to be higher than the third quarter of 2022, but to exhibit the typical sequential decline when compared to the second quarter of 2023. In Construction Industries, as is our normal seasonal end, we expect lower sales compared to the second quarter. In Resource Industries, which can be lumpy, we anticipate slightly lower sales compared to the second quarter. We expect sales in Energy & Transportation will increase slightly compared to the second quarter. Specific to third quarter margins versus the prior year, adjusted operating profit margins at the enterprise level and segment margins should be stronger. However, we do expect lower enterprise adjusted operating profit margins in the third quarter compared to the second quarter of this year on lower volume and impacts from cost absorption. We also anticipate investment spend will ramp across our primary segments as we continue to accelerate our strategic investments in area like autonomy, alternative fuels, connectivity and digital and electrification. At the segment level, for Construction Industries, we expect a lower margin compared to the second quarter as is typical. This is largely due to lower quarter-on-quarter volume, increased investment in strategic initiatives and slightly higher manufacturing costs, including a headwind from cost absorption. Favorable price realization will act as a partial offset. We also anticipate lower third quarter margins in Resource Industries compared to the second quarter, primarily due to lower volume quarter-on-quarter. Conversely, we expect third quarter margins in Energy & Transportation will be slightly higher compared to the second quarter on higher volume and stronger price realization, partially offset by higher manufacturing costs and spend relating to strategic initiatives. Now turning to Slide 13, let me summarize. We generated strong adjusted operating profit margin with a 750 basis point increase to 21.3%. We now expect to be close to the top of the targeted range for adjusted operating margin -- profit margin for the full-year based on our expected sales levels. ME&T free cash flow generation was robust at $2.6 billion in the quarter. We returned $2 billion to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. We now expect ME&T free cash flow to be around the top of our $4 billion to $8 billion range for the full-year. Lastly, we continue to execute our strategy for long-term profitable growth. And with that, we'll now take your questions.

ME&T free cash flow around the top of our $4 billion to $8 billion target range


Jim Umpleby: Thanks, Ryan. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Before discussing our results, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge the tragic events in the Middle East. We are deeply saddened by the loss of life, and are hopeful for a quick and peaceful resolution. The Caterpillar Foundation is donating $1 million to the American Red Cross, and its network of Red Crescent Societies in the region, to support the humanitarian needs of those impacted. As we closed out the third quarter, I want to thank our global team for delivering another strong quarter. This included double-digit top line growth, strong adjusted operating profit margin, and robust ME&T free cash flow. Our results continue to reflect healthy demand across most of our end markets for our products and services. We remain focused on executing our strategy, and continue to invest for long-term profitable growth. I'll begin with my perspectives about our performance in the quarter. I'll then provide some insights about our end markets. Lastly, I'll provide an update on our sustainability journey. Moving to quarterly results, it was another strong quarter. Sales and revenues increased 12% in the third quarter versus last year. Adjusted operating profit margin improved to 20.8%, up significantly year-over-year. We also generated $2.9 billion of ME&T free cash flow in the quarter. Sales were generally in line with our expectations, while both adjusted operating profit margin, and ME&T free cash flow in the third quarter were better than we expected. In addition, we ended the quarter with a healthy backlog of $28.1 billion. Backlog is a function of demand and lead times. As I've mentioned, demand remains healthy in most of our end markets. Due to improving supply chain conditions, product availability and lead times have improved for many products. Dealers and customers can wait longer to place orders, which has led to a moderation in order rates, as expected. In addition, we have seen a reduction in dealer orders for building construction products, which we anticipated, due to the changeover to CAT engines that we previously discussed, and for excavation, in anticipation of dealers reducing their inventories in the fourth quarter. Although, our backlog declined as expected, it still remains elevated as a percentage of revenues compared to historic levels. While we continue to closely monitor global macroeconomic conditions, we now expect our full-year 2023 results to be better than we anticipated during our last earnings call. Turning to Slide 4. In the third quarter of 2023, sales and revenues increased by 12% to $16.8 billion, driven primarily by favorable price realization, as well as volume growth. Sales increased in each of our three primary segments. Compared with the third quarter of 2022, overall sales to users increased 13%, which was below our expectations. Energy & Transportation sales to users increased 34%, but was lower than expected due to some supply chain challenges for large engines, and the timing of gas turbine in international locomotive deliveries. For machines, which includes Construction Industries and Resource Industries, sales to users rose by 7%, in line with expectations. Sales to users in Construction Industries were up 6%. North American sales to users increased as demand remained healthy for non-residential, and residential construction. Non-residential continued to benefit from government-related infrastructure and construction projects. Residential sales to users in North America also increased in the quarter. EAME sales to users were up slightly, primarily due to continuing strength in Middle East construction activity. In Latin America and Asia-Pacific, sales to users declined in the quarter. In Resource Industries, sales to users increased 10%. In mining, sales to users increased with commodities remaining above investment thresholds. Within heavy construction, and quarry and aggregates, sales to users also increased, supported by growth for infrastructure-related projects. In Energy & Transportation, sales to users increased by 34%. All applications saw higher sales to users in the quarter. Oil and gas sales to users benefited from strong sales of turbines, and turbine-related services. We also saw continued strength in sales of reciprocating engines into oil and gas applications such as Tier 4 dynamic gas blending, repowering well servicing fleets and gas compression. Power generation sales to users continued to remain positive, due to favorable market conditions, including strong data center growth. Industrial and transportation sales to users also increased. Dealer inventories increased by $600 million in the quarter, led by Construction Industries and followed by Energy & Transportation. In Construction Industries, the increase was in North America in some of our most constrained product lines including BCP and Earthmoving. We remain very comfortable with the total level of dealer inventory, which is within the typical range. Andrew will provide more color later in the call. Adjusted operating profit margin increased to 20.8% in the third quarter, a 430 basis point increase over last year. Adjusted operating profit margin was better than we had anticipated. Relative to our expectations, we saw lower-than-expected manufacturing costs, including freight, as well as slightly favorable price realization, which included the positive impact from geographic mix. Moving to Slide 5. We generated strong ME&T free cash flow of $2.9 billion in the third quarter, and $6.8 billion in the first three quarters of 2023. Year-to-date, we returned $4.1 billion to shareholders, which included about $2.2 billion of repurchased stock, and $1.9 billion in dividends. We remain proud of our Dividend Aristocrat status, and continue to expect to return substantially all ME&T free cash flow to shareholders over time through dividends and share repurchases. Now on Slide 6, I'll describe our expectations moving forward. As I mentioned earlier, we now anticipate the full year to be better than we previously expected. We expect our adjusted operating profit margin to be slightly above the targeted range relative to the corresponding level of sales. This positive operating performance increases our expectations for ME&T free cash flow, which we now expect will exceed the $4 billion to $8 billion target range for the full year. This outlook for the adjusted operating profit margin, and ME&T free cash flow, reflects healthy customer demand and our strong operating performance. Now, I'll discuss our outlook for key end markets starting with Construction Industries. In North America overall, we continue to see positive momentum. We expect continued growth in non-residential construction in North America due to the impact of government-related infrastructure investments, and a healthy pipeline of construction projects. Although, residential construction growth has moderated, we expect it to remain healthy. In Asia Pacific, excluding China, we expect growth in Construction Industries due to public infrastructure spending, in support of commodity prices. As we have mentioned during previous earnings calls, we anticipate continued weakness in China, and expect it to remain well below our typical range of 5% to 10% of enterprise sales. In EAME, we anticipate the region will be slightly down as weakness continues in Europe, partially offset by continuing strong construction demand in the Middle East. Construction activity in Latin America is expected to be about flat versus strong 2022 performance. In Resource Industries, we continue to see a high level of quoting activity. In mining, customer product utilization remains high. The number of parked trucks remains low, and the age of the fleet remains elevated. Order rates are slightly lower than we expected at this time, reflecting continued capital discipline by our customers. We continue to believe the energy transition will support increased commodity demand over time, expanding our total addressable market, and providing further opportunities for long-term profitable growth. In addition, customer acceptance of our autonomous solutions continues to grow. This is evidenced by the announcement this morning with Freeport-McMoRan, who will convert their fleet of Cat 793 large mining trucks at an Arizona copper mine to autonomous haulage using Cat MineStar Command. We also expect heavy construction, and quarry and aggregates to remain in healthy levels due to major infrastructure in non-residential construction projects. Moving to Energy & Transportation. In oil and gas, we remain encouraged by continuing strong demand for Cat reciprocating engines and gas compression. As we said last quarter, well servicing in North America is showing some short-term moderation, but we remain optimistic about future demand. Cat reciprocating engine demand for power generation is expected to remain strong, primarily driven by data center growth. New equipment and services for solar turbines in both oil and gas and power generation remain robust. Industrial demand is expected to soften slightly from recent high levels, but remains well above our historical averages. In transportation, we anticipate strength in high-speed marine as customers continue to upgrade aging fleets. As we've described, we continue to see strength in most of our end markets. Based on our backlog, dealer inventory, and current market conditions, we expect to have another good year in 2024. We will provide additional information during our fourth quarter call. Moving to Slide 7. We continue to advance our sustainability journey. We're helping our customers achieve their climate related objectives by continuing to invest in new products, technologies, and services, that facilitate fuel flexibility, increased operational efficiency, and reduced emissions. For example, Caterpillar provides a number of low-carbon intensity solutions to customers. In Construction Industries, the Cat 980 XE Wheel Loader, which features a Cat designed and manufactured continuous variable transmission, improves fuel efficiency by as much as 35%, and reduces CO2 emissions by as much as 17% compared to the previous model. We also introduced the new Cat G3600 Gen 2 engine, the latest evolution of the powerful G3600 series, offering lower emissions. With more than 8,500 Cat G3600 units in the field, the Gen 2 engine is designed to build upon the platform's robust performance, to provide a 10% increase in power, and lower emissions compared to the previous model. We've also made several joint announcements with customers that demonstrate our commitment to supporting their climate-related objectives. I'll highlight one here. In September, Caterpillar and Albemarle introduced a unique collaboration, aimed to support their efforts to establish Kings Mountain, North Carolina as the first-ever zero emissions lithium mine in North America, while also making lithium available for use in Caterpillar battery production. These examples reinforce our ongoing sustainability leadership, and how we're helping our customers build a better, more sustainable world. With that, I will turn it over to Andrew.

ME&T free cash flow $2.9 billion third quarter


expect ME&T free cash flow $4 billion to $8 billion full year


Jim Umpleby: Thanks, Ryan. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. As we close out 2023, I'd like to start by recognizing our global team for delivering another strong quarter and the best year in our 98-year history. For the year, we delivered record sales and revenues, record adjusted profit margin, record adjusted profit per share, and record ME&T free cash flow. Our results continue to reflect healthy demand across most of our end markets for our products and services. We remain focused on executing our strategy and continue to invest for long-term profitable growth. I'll begin with my perspectives about our performance in the quarter and for the full year. I'll then provide some insights about our end markets, followed by an update on our strategy. I'll then provide some insights about our end markets, followed by an update on our strategy and sustainability journey. Moving to quarterly results, it was another strong quarter. While sales and revenues increased 3% in the fourth quarter versus a strong quarter last year, our adjust operating profit increased by 15%. Adjusted operating profit margin improved to 18.9%, up 190 basis points versus last year. We also generated $3.2 billion of ME&T free cash flow in the quarter. Sales, adjusted operating profit margin, adjusted profit per share and ME&T free cash flow in the fourth quarter were all better than we expected. For the full year, we generated a 13% increase in total sales and revenues to $67.1 billion. Services also increased by 5% to $23 billion, a record. We generated $13.7 billion of adjusted operating profit in 2023, up 51% from 2022. Adjusted operating profit margin for the full year was 20.5%, a 510 basis point increase over the prior year. This exceeded the top end of our target margin range for this level of sales by 80 basis points. Adjusted profit per share in 2023 was $21.21, a 53% increase over 2022. In addition, we also generated $10 billion of ME&T free cash flow, exceeding the high end of our target range by over $2 billion for the full year. This performance led to continued growth in absolute OPACC dollars, which is our internal measure of profitable growth. As a result of our strong execution and record financial performance, we are increasing our target range for adjusted operating profit margin and ME&T free cash flow. We are increasing the top end of our adjusted operating profit margin range by 100 basis points relative to the corresponding level of sales. Moving to ME&T free cash flow, we've generated more than $30 billion over the last five years, including a record $10 billion in 2023. Based on our demonstrated ability to generate strong free cash flow, we are raising our ME&T free cash flow target range to $5 billion to $10 billion, up from $4 billion to $8 billion. Andrew will provide additional details around these updated targets. Turning to Slide 4. In the fourth quarter of 2023, sales and revenues increased by 3% to $17.1 billion, driven by favorable price realization and partially offset by lower volume. Both price and volume were slightly better than we expected. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, overall sales to users increased 8%, slightly better than our expectations. Energy & Transportation sales to users increased 20%. For machines, which includes Construction Industries and Resource Industries, sales to users rose by 3%. Sales to users in Construction Industries were up 4%. North American sales to users increased as demand remained healthy for non-residential and residential construction. Non-residential continued to benefit from government related infrastructure and construction projects. Residential sales to users in North America also increased in the quarter. Sales to users in EAME and Latin America were down slightly relative to a strong comparative. In Asia Pacific, sales to users declined in the quarter. In Resource Industries, sales to users increased 1%. In mining, sales to users also increased and in heavy construction and quarry and aggregates, sales to users declined against a strong comparative in 2022. In Energy & Transportation, sales to users increased by 20%. Oil and gas sales to users benefited from strong sales of turbines and turbine related services. We also saw continued strength in sales of reciprocating engines into gas compression and well servicing oil and gas applications, including the Tier 4 dynamic gas blending engines used in well servicing fleets. Power generation sales to users increased -- excuse me, power generation sales to users continued to remain positive due to favorable market conditions, including strong data center growth. Transportation sales to users also increased, while industrial declined from historically strong levels in 2022. Dealer inventory decreased by $900 million versus the third quarter. Machines declined by $1.4 billion, slightly more than we expected. We saw the largest decline in Construction Industries as dealer inventory decreased across all regions. The largest decline was in excavators. We remain comfortable with the total level of machine dealer inventory, which is within the typical range. Adjusted operating profit margin increased to 18.9% in the fourth quarter, a 190 basis point increase over last year. Adjusted operating profit margin was slightly better than we had anticipated. Relative to our margin expectations, we saw higher price realization and higher sales volume, both marginally better than expected. Turning to Slide 5, I'll now provide full year highlights. In 2023, we generated sales and revenues of $67.1 billion, up 13% versus last year. This was due to favorable price and higher sales volume, driven primarily by higher sales of equipment to end users. As I mentioned, we generated $23 billion of services revenue in 2023, a 5% increase over 2022. We continue to see improvement of customer value agreements with new equipment, which remains an important part of our services growth initiatives. We saw strong e-commerce sales growth as we continued to enhance our digital tools to make it easier for customers to identify and purchase the right parts. We added more than 100,000 new customers to our online channel. We also exceeded the e-commerce goal we shared at our May 2022 Investor Day. By combining the data from more than 1.5 million connected assets with our engineering expertise, advanced analytics and AI, we are helping customers avoid unplanned downtime through intelligent leads, which we call prioritized service events, or PSEs. We continue to execute our various service initiatives as we strive to achieve our 2026 target of $28 billion. Our full-year adjusted operating profit margin was 20.5%, a 510 basis point increase over 2022. Moving to Slide 6. We generated strong ME&T free cash flow of $10 billion in 2023, a $3.7 billion, or 58% increase over our previous record. We returned a record $7.5 billion to shareholders through repurchase stock and dividends. We remain proud of our Dividend Aristocrat status and continue to expect to return substantially all ME&T free cash flow to shareholders over time through dividends and share repurchases. Now on Slide 7, I'll describe our expectations moving forward. Overall demand remains healthy across most of our end markets for our products and services. We ended 2023 with a backlog of $27.5 billion, which remains elevated as a percentage of revenues compared to historical levels. We currently anticipate 2024 sales and revenues to be broadly similar to the record 2023 level. We expect continued strength in end user demand, including services growth, and a slight benefit from carryover pricing, offset by a dealer inventory headwind, which was a $2.1 billion benefit in 2023. We currently do not anticipate a significant change in dealer inventory of machines in 2024 as compared to an increase in 2023. Now, I'll discuss our outlook for key end markets, starting with construction industries. In North America, after a very strong 2023, we expect the region to remain healthy in 2024. We expect non-residential construction to remain at similar demand levels due to government-related infrastructure investments. Residential construction is expected to remain healthy relative to historical levels. In Asia Pacific, excluding China, we are seeing some softening in economic conditions. We anticipate China will remain at a relatively low level for the above 10-ton excavator industry. In EAME, we anticipate the region will be slightly down due to economic uncertainty in Europe, somewhat offset by continuing strong construction demand in the Middle East. Construction activity in Latin America is expected to increase due to easing financial conditions. In addition, we also anticipate the ongoing benefit of our services initiatives will positively impact construction industries in 2024. Next, I'll discuss Resource Industries. After strong performance in 2023 in mining, heavy construction and quarry and aggregates, we anticipate lower machine volume versus last year, primarily due to off-highway and articulated trucks. In addition, we anticipate a small decrease in dealer inventory during 2024 versus a slight increase in dealer inventory last year. While we continue to see a high level of quoting activity overall, we anticipate lower order rates as customers display capital discipline. We expect to see higher services revenues, including robust rebuild activity. Customer product utilization remains high, the number of parked trucks remains low, the age of the fleet remains elevated, and our autonomous solutions continue to see strong customer acceptance. We continue to believe the energy transition will support increased commodity demand over time, expanding our total addressable market and providing further opportunities for long-term profitable growth. Moving to Energy & Transportation. In oil and gas, we expect reciprocating engines and services to increase slightly after a strong 2023. As we said during the last two quarters, well servicing in North America is showing some short-term moderation. Gas compression order backlog remains healthy. And overall, we continue to remain optimistic about future demand. Cat reciprocating engine demand for power generation is expected to remain strong due to continued data center growth. Solar Turbines has a strong backlog and continues to experience robust quoting activity. As we said in the last quarter, industrial demand is expected to soften in the near term from a strong 2023. In transportation, we anticipate high-speed marine to increase slightly as customers continue to upgrade aging fleets. Moving to Slide 8. Now I'll provide an update on our strategy and sustainability journey. Over the past year, we have discussed constraints for our large engines, given the robust demand in power generation for data centers and in oil and gas. We believe that our total addressable market is expanding due to the secular growth trend for data centers relating to cloud computing and Generative AI. We also expect the energy transition to create opportunities for distributed generation. As more renewables are added to the grid, our reciprocating engine and gas turbine generator sets can help provide grid stability. We are making a large multiyear capital investment in our large engine division, including increasing capacity for both new engines and aftermarket parts. This will help us satisfy growing customer demand and contribute to future absolute OPACC dollar growth, which we believe has the highest correlation to total shareholder return over time. We continued to advance our sustainability journey in 2023. I'll highlight some recent announcements demonstrating our commitment to a reduced carbon future. Caterpillar had a goal that 100% of new products will be more sustainable than the previous generation, including by lowering fuel consumption and thus, corresponding emissions. One recent example is our 420 XE Backhoe Loader with the Cat 3.6 engine. Through internal testing in a typical mix of applications, it consumed up to 10% less fuel and produced up to 10% less tail pipe emissions than the previous model. Earlier this year, we announced the success of our collaboration with Microsoft and Ballard Power Systems to demonstrate the viability of using large-format hydrogen fuel cells to supply reliable and sustainable backup power for data centers. The demonstration validated the hydrogen fuel cell power systems performance in more than 6,000 feet above sea level and in below freezing conditions. Caterpillar led the project, providing the overall system integration, power electronics and microgrid controls that form the central structure of the hydrogen power solution. These examples reinforce our ongoing sustainability leadership. With that, I'll turn it over to Andrew.


ME&T free cash flow 10 billion high end of our target range over $2 billion full year


Jim Umpleby: Well, Jerry, you recall when we launched our strategy in 2017, we really focused very heavily on OPACC, operating profit after capital charge. And we're really challenging our teams to work to ensure that we get a return for every dollar of capital that we invest. And we've also worked hard to reduce our structural costs. And again, with OPACC as our measure, that obviously helps us produce more cash. Again, we demonstrated the ability to produce higher free cash flows. If I remember the numbers correctly, between 2019 and 2022, we produced $5 billion to $6 billion of free cash flow. And then in 2020, we had a 22% decline in our top line. And even that year, even during the COVID year, when our top line dropped more than 20%, we still produced $3 billion of free cash flow. So again, we have the whole organization based on OPACC, and that's working all those levers every single day, and that helps us drive increased free cash flow.


Stanley Elliott: Hey, good morning everyone. Thank you very much for fitting me in and congratulations. And can you talk a little bit more about the free cash flow? I mean, you got $1 billion to $2 billion more additional that you're looking at and targeting. You've done a very nice job of increasing the dividend on a steady basis. Should we think of this as accelerated repurchase activity into '24? Is there something on the M&A front? Any color there would be greatly helpful. Thank you.


ME&T free cash flow $5 billion to $10 billion


Jim Umpleby: Thanks Alex. Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us. As we close out 2024, I want to thank our global team for their strong execution in delivering another good year. Our results continued to reflect the benefit of the diversity of our end markets and the disciplined execution of our strategy for long term profitable growth. For the year, we delivered record adjusted profit per share and higher adjusted operating profit margin that exceeded the top of our target range. Although our top line decreased in the year, services revenue grew to a record level. We also generated ME&T free cash flow near the top of the target range. Our robust ME&T free cash flow along with our strong balance sheet allowed us to deploy over $10 million to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends during the year. I’ll begin with my perspectives about our performance in the quarter and for the full year. I’ll then provide some insights about our end markets followed by an update on our sustainability journey. For the fourth quarter, sales and revenues were down 5% versus last year, primarily due to lower sales volume. This was slightly below our expectations mainly due to services growing at a slightly slower rate than we expected and some delivery delays in energy and transportation. Services revenues did increase in the quarter compared to 2023. Stronger than expected machine sales to users drove a higher than anticipated dealer inventory reduction which offset each other, resulting in a minimal impact to sales. Fourth quarter adjusted operating profit margin was below our expectations at 18.3%, primarily due to lower volume and an unfavorable mix of products. We achieved quarterly adjusted profit per share of $5.14 and generated $3 billion of ME&T free cash flow. Since last quarter end, our backlog increased by $1.3 billion to $30 billion. For the full year, total sales and revenues were $64.8 billion, a decrease of 3% compared to 2023. Services revenues increased 4% to $24 billion. Adjusted operating profit margin of 20.7% exceeded the top end of the target range, as we expected, and represents a slight improvement from 2023. We achieved record adjusted profit per share in 2024 of $21.90, a 3% increase over 2023. In addition, we generated $9.4 billion of ME&T free cash flow, which was near the top of our target range, as we expected. Since 2019, we have generated approximately $40 billion of ME&T free cash flow, including $10.3 billion in 2024. Our strong and consistent ME&T free cash flow has allowed us to reduce the average number of shares outstanding by approximately 18% since the beginning of 2019. Turning to Slide 4, as I mentioned earlier, sales and revenues declined 5% in the fourth quarter to $16.2 billion. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, machine sales to users, which includes construction industries and resource industries, declined by 3% but was better than our expectations. Energy and transportation continued to grow as sales to users increased 2%. Sales to users in construction industries were down 3% year-over-year. In North America, sales to users were slightly lower, but better than we expected. Sales to users grew in residential construction, while non-residential was down slightly. Rental fleet loading was down but in line with expectations, as we described during our last earnings call. Dealers’ rental revenue continued to grow in the quarter. Sales to users declined in EAME and Asia Pacific in line with our expectations. Sales to users in Latin America continued to grow but at a lower rate than we expected. In resource industries, sales to users declined 3%, which was better than we expected. Mining was better than expected due to large mining and off-highway trucks being placed into service earlier than we anticipated. Heavy construction and coring aggregates were in line with expectations. In energy and transportation, sales to users increased by 2%. Power generation sales to users grew 27% as conditions remained favorable for both reciprocating engines and turbines and turbine-related services. Sales to users for reciprocating engines used in oil and gas applications declined primarily due to a challenging comparative to the fourth quarter of 2023. For solar turbines and turbine-related services, fourth quarter sales were down in oil and gas compared to strong shipments in the fourth quarter of 2023. Most of solar’s fourth quarter decline in oil and gas was offset by growth in power generation. Transportation sales to users increased, while industrial declined. Moving to dealer inventory and backlog, in total dealer inventory decreased by $1.3 billion versus the third quarter of 2024. For machines, dealer inventory decreased by $1.6 billion. The decrease was more than we had anticipated due to better than expected sales to users, particularly for construction industries in North America and resource industries. As I mentioned, backlog increased versus the third quarter to $30 billion, led by energy and transportation. This is a $2.5 billion increase versus 2023 year-end. Our backlog remains elevated as a percentage of revenues compared to historical levels. We continue to see strong order activity for both reciprocating engines and power generation and turbines and turbine-related services in both oil and gas and power generation. Turning to Slide 5, I’ll now provide full year highlights. In 2024, we generated sales and revenues of $64.8 billion, down 3% versus last year. This was due to lower sales volume partially offset by favorable price realization. Our adjusted operating profit margin was 20.7%, a 20 basis point increase over 2023 despite lower sales and revenues. Adjusted profit per share in 2024 was $21.90. As I mentioned, services revenue increased to $24 billion in 2024, a 4% increase over 2023. Services continued to grow as we focus on making our customers successful. Working with our dealers, we are leveraging over 1.5 million connected reporting assets and digital tools. Our Cat digital tools allow customers to more efficiently improve uptime, manage their fleets, and transact on our ecommerce platforms. For example, this year we launched an internal generative AI solution designed to optimize the creation of intelligent leads, which we call Prioritize Service Events, or PSEs. This tool significantly reduces the time and effort required for service recommendations, helping customers avoid unplanned downtime by clearly identifying the recommended repair options and timing for customers. In 2024, we delivered more than two-thirds of new equipment with a customer value agreement, which remains an important part of our services growth initiatives. We also experienced better than expected growth in our ecommerce platforms and have focused on improving our customer on-boarding to include key digital products. Also in 2024, we saw record usage of Vision Link, our equipment management application, on-boarding and activating thousands of new customers throughout the year. Services growth remains resilient despite the decline in our overall top line. We continued to execute our various services initiatives as we strive towards our aspirational target of $28 billion in services revenues. Moving to Slide 6, we generated robust ME&T free cash flow of $9.4 billion for the full year. We deployed $10.3 billion to shareholders through $7.7 billion of share repurchases and $2.6 billion of dividends paid. We remain proud of our dividend aristocrat status as we have paid higher annual dividends for 31 consecutive years. We continue to expect to return substantially all ME&T free cash flow to shareholders over time through dividends and share repurchases. Now on Slide 7, I’ll describe our expectations moving forward. Overall, we currently anticipate 2025 sales and revenues to be slightly lower compared to 2024. In 2025, we expect continued strength in energy and transportation to mostly offset lower sales in construction industries and resource industries. We also expect services revenues to grow in 2025, including growth across all three primary segments. We currently expect machine dealer inventory to end 2025 at similar levels to year-end 2024. Full year adjusted operating profit margin is expected to be lower than 2024, but it is anticipated to be in the top half of the target range based on the corresponding level of sales and revenues. Finally, we expect ME&T free cash flow to be in the top half of our target range of $5 billion to $10 billion. Now I’ll discuss our outlook for key end markets, starting with construction industries. In North America, we expect moderately lower sales to users in 2025 versus last year. Construction spend in North America remains healthy, primarily driven by large multi-year projects and government-related infrastructure investments supported by funding from the IIJA. Although we anticipate the combined non-residential and residential construction spend to remain similar to 2024 levels, our current planning assumptions reflect lower demand for new equipment. We also expect lower dealer rental fleet loading compared to 2024, although dealer revenue is expected to grow. Overall, we remain positive about the medium and longer term outlook in North America. In Asia Pacific outside of China, we expect soft economic conditions to continue into 2025. We anticipate China to remain at relatively low levels for the above-10 ton excavator industry. In EAME, we anticipate weak economic conditions in Europe will continue and a healthy level of construction activity in Africa and the Middle East. Construction activity in Latin America is expected to decline moderately. We also anticipate the ongoing benefit of our services initiatives will positively impact construction industries in 2025. Moving to resource industries, we anticipate lower sales to users in 2025 compared to last year, partially offset by higher services revenues including robust rebuild activity. Customers continue to display capital discipline, although key commodities remain above investment thresholds. Customer product utilization remains high. The number of parked trucks remains relatively low. The age of the fleet remains elevated and our autonomous solutions continue to see strong customer acceptance. We continue to believe the energy transition will support increased commodity demand over time, expanding our total addressable market and providing further opportunities for long term profitable growth. Moving to energy and transportation, demand is expected to remain strong in power generation, and we expect growth for both Cat reciprocating engines and solar turbines. Overall strength in power generation for both prime and backup power applications continues to be driven by increasing energy demand to support data center growth related to cloud computing and generative AI. Through continued focus on improving manufacturing efficiencies, along with initial stages of our investment to increase large engine output capacity, we expect growth in reciprocating engines for power generation in 2025. We also expect growth in solar turbines for power generation driven by increased customer demand. For oil and gas, after a flat year in 2024, we expect moderate growth in 2025. We expect reciprocating engines and services to be slightly down in 2025 due to continuing capital discipline by our customers, industry consolidation, and efficiency improvements in our customers’ operations. Solar turbines’ oil and gas backlog remains strong, and we see continued healthy order and inquiry activity. We expect growth for turbines and turbine-related services in oil and gas. Demand for our products in industrial applications is expected to remain at a relatively low level, similar to 2024. In transportation, we anticipate full year growth driven by rail services. Moving to Slide 8, I’ll now provide an update on our sustainability journey. Caterpillar’s legacy of sustainable innovation spans nearly a century. Throughout that time, we have provided products and services that improve the quality of life and the environment while helping customers fulfill society’s need for infrastructure in a sustainable way. Earlier this month, Caterpillar kicked off its year-long centennial celebration at CES 2025 with the theme, The Next Hundred Years: Experience What’s Possible. We showcased our continuous investment in the core technologies of autonomy, alternative fuels, connectivity and digital, and electrification. Our ability to provide these solutions reflects investments of more than $30 billion in R&D over the past 20 years to deliver best-in-class innovation. Taking center stage at the Caterpillar CES exhibit was a Cat 972 wheel loader retrofitted to be an extended range electrified machine hybrid technical demonstrator. The demonstrator can run fully battery electric with zero exhaust emissions for several hours. It has an on-board generator and charger that enables full day uptime without requiring an investment in direct current, or DC charging infrastructure. In initial testing, the demonstrator maintains or exceeds the performance of a Cat 972 internal combustion machine while providing customers with the benefits of a hybrid system. With that, I’ll turn it over to Andrew.


Jim Umpleby : Thanks, Ryan. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'd like to start by thanking our global team for delivering another strong quarter, including higher adjusted operating profit margin, record adjusted profit per share, and strong ME&T free cash flow. Our strong balance sheet and ME&T free cash flow allowed us to deploy a record $5.1 billion of cash for share repurchases and dividends in the first quarter. Our results reflect a continuation of healthy demand for our products and services across most of our end markets. We remain focused on executing our strategy and continue to invest for long-term profitable growth. I'll begin with my perspectives about our performance in the quarter. I'll then provide some insights about our end markets, followed by an update on our sustainability journey. It was another strong quarter. Sales and revenues were about flat in the quarter versus last year, broadly in line with our expectations. Services revenues increased in the quarter. Our adjusted operating profit increased by 5% to $3.5 billion. Adjusted operating profit margin was slightly better than we expected and improved to 22.2% up a 110 basis points versus last year. We achieved a record adjusted profit per share of $5.60 up 14%. We also generated strong ME&T free cash flow in the quarter of $1.3 billion. In addition, our backlog increased to $27.9 billion up $400 million versus the fourth quarter of 2023. We continue to expect 2024 sales and revenues to be broadly similar to the record 2023 level. We have revised our full year 2024 segment expectations to reflect a slightly stronger top line in Energy & Transportation offset by softening in the European market for Construction Industries. We anticipate services to be higher in 2024 as we strive to achieve our 2026 target of $28 billion. For the year, we continue to expect adjusted operating profit margin and ME&T free cash flow to be in the top half of our target ranges. Turning to slide four. In the first quarter of 2024 sales and revenues remained about flat at $15.8 billion. Compared to our expectations, sales volume was slightly lower while price realization, including geographic mix, was better than we anticipated. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, overall sales to users decreased by 5%. This was slightly lower than we expected, mainly due to weakness in Europe for Construction Industries. Energy & Transportation continued to show strength, where sales to users increased 9%. For machines, which includes Construction Industries and Resource Industries, sales to users declined by 9%. Focusing on Construction Industries, sales to users were down 5%. In North America, our largest geographic region for Construction Industries, sales to users increased as expected, and demand remained healthy for both non-residential and residential construction. Construction projects, as well as government related infrastructure, continue to benefit non-residential demand. Although residential sales to users in North America were down slightly, demand for new housing remained strong. Sales to users declined in EAME primarily due to weakness in Europe related to residential construction and economic conditions. Latin America and Asia Pacific sales to users also saw some declines. In Resource Industries, sales to users declined 17% in the first quarter compared to a very strong first quarter in 2023. Mining, as well as heavy construction and quarry and aggregates were lower, mainly due to softness in off-highway and articulated trucks that we mentioned during our last earnings call. In Energy & Transportation, sales to users increased by 9%. Oil and gas sales to users benefited from strong sales of turbines and turbine-related services. We also saw increased sales of reciprocating engines in the gas compression and well servicing oil and gas applications. Power generation sales to users grew as market conditions remained favorable, including strong data center growth. Transportation sales to users increased while industrial declined as we expected from strong levels last year. In total, dealer inventory increased by $1.4 billion versus the fourth quarter. For machines, dealer inventory increased by $1.1 billion, which was slightly higher than our expectations, largely due to sales to users being modestly lower than anticipated. The increase in machine dealer inventory is consistent with normal seasonal patterns of which Construction Industries products accounted for the majority of the increase. The total level of machine dealer inventory is comfortably within the typical range. As I mentioned, backlog increased to $27.9 billion, up $400 million versus the fourth quarter of 2023, led by Energy & Transportation. Backlog remains elevated as a percentage of revenues compared to historical levels. Adjusted operating profit margin increased to 22.2% in the first quarter, a 110 basis point increase over last year, which was slightly better than we anticipated. This was primarily due to better than expected manufacturing costs, mainly related to freight. Moving to slide five. We generated strong ME&T free cash flow of $1.3 billion in the first quarter. We deployed $5.1 billion of cash for share repurchases and dividends in the first quarter, including the initiation of a $3.5 billion accelerated share repurchase program which may last up to nine months. We remain proud of our Dividend Aristocrat status and continue to expect to return substantially all ME&T free cash flow to shareholders over time through dividends and share repurchases. Now on slide six, I'll describe our expectations moving forward. We expect a continuation of healthy demand across most of our end markets for our products and services. We continue to anticipate 2024 sales and revenues to be broadly similar to the record 2023 level. As I mentioned, we expect services to continue to grow in 2024. We currently do not anticipate a significant change in dealer inventory in machines in 2024, compared to a $700 million increase in 2023. This is expected to be a headwind to sales in 2024. As a reminder, dealers are independent businesses and manage their own inventories. The vast majority of dealer inventories in Energy & Transportation are backed by firm customer orders. The timing of these products being recognized as sales to users is impacted by dealer packaging and commissioning, which is why it is difficult to predict dealer inventory in E&T. This is why we have become more explicit about the differentiation between machine dealer inventory and total dealer inventory. As I mentioned, we anticipate that our 2024 results will be within the top half of our target ranges for both adjusted operating profit margin and ME&T free cash flow. Our strong results continue to reflect the diversity of our end markets, as well as the disciplined execution of our strategy for profitable growth. Now, I'll discuss our outlook for key end markets starting with Construction Industries. In North America, after a very strong 2023, we continue to expect demand in the region will remain healthy in 2024 for both non-residential and residential construction. We anticipate non-residential construction to remain at similar levels to slightly higher demand levels compared to last year due to construction projects, as well as government related infrastructure. Residential construction demand is expected to be flat to slightly down versus last year, which remains strong in comparison to historical levels. In Asia Pacific, outside of China, we are seeing some softening in economic conditions. We anticipate demand in China will remain at a relatively low level for the above 10-ton excavator industry. In EAME, we anticipate that weak economic conditions in Europe will continue, somewhat offset by strong construction activity in the Middle East. Construction activity in Latin America remains mixed, but overall, we are expecting modest growth. In addition, we expect the ongoing benefit of our services initiatives will positively impact Construction Industries in 2024. Next, I'll discuss Resource Industries. After strong performance in 2023 in mining, as well as heavy construction and quarry and aggregates, we anticipate lower machine volume versus last year, primarily due to off-highway and articulated trucks. In addition, we anticipate a small decrease in resource industry dealer inventories during 2024 versus a slight increase last year. While we continue to see a high level of quoting activity overall, we anticipate lower order rates as customers display capital discipline. We expect to see higher services revenues, including robust rebuild activity. Customer product utilization remains high, the number of parked trucks remains low, and the age of the fleet remains elevated, and our autonomous solutions continue to see strong customer acceptance. We continue to believe the energy transition will support increased commodity demand over time, expanding our total addressable market, and providing further opportunities for long-term profitable growth. Moving to Energy & Transportation. In oil and gas, we expect reciprocating engines and services to be about flat after strong 2023 performance. We expect reciprocating gas compression demand to be higher in 2024 than it was in 2023. While servicing demand in North America is expected to soften, Cat reciprocating engine demand for power generation is expected to remain strong, largely due to continued data center growth relating to Cloud Computing and Generative AI. Last quarter, I mentioned we are making a multi-year capital investment in our large reciprocating engine division, including increasing capacity for both new engines and aftermarket parts. This investment will approximately double output for large engines and aftermarket parts as compared to 2023. We leverage these large engines across a variety of applications, including data centers, oil and gas, large mining trucks, and distributed power generation. For Solar Turbines, our backlog and quoting activity both remain strong for oil and gas and power generation. As we said previously, industrial demand is expected to soften relative to a strong 2023. In transportation, we anticipate high-speed marine to increase as customers continue to upgrade aging fleets. Moving to slide seven, I'll provide an update on our sustainability journey. We are contributing to a reduced carbon future and continue to invest in new products technologies and services, to help our customers achieve their climate related objectives. In January we announced the signing of an electrification strategic agreement with CRH to advance the deployment of Caterpillar‘s Zero-Exhaust Emissions Solutions. CRH is the number one aggregate producer in North America and the first company in that industry to sign such an agreement with Caterpillar. The agreement is focused on accelerating the deployment of Caterpillar’s 70-ton to 100-ton class battery electric off-highway trucks and charging solutions at a CRH site in North America. Through the agreement CRH will participate in Caterpillar’s early learner program for battery electric off-highway trucks. In February Caterpillar oil and gas announced the launch of the Cat Hybrid Energy Storage Solution to help drillers and operators cut fuel consumption, lower total cost of ownership and reduce emissions in oil and gas operations. The custom designed energy storage system stores excess power from the job site and then discharges it as needed. In a hybrid system that combines the Cat Hybrid Energy Storage Solution in a natural gas fuel generator set, the transient response is even quicker than a conventional diesel only rigs. Depending upon site configuration the Hybrid Energy Storage Solution has proven to deliver up to 30% fuel cost savings with natural gas, 85% fuel cost savings with fuel gas, and up to an 80% reduction in nitrogen oxides. Carbon dioxide equivalent reductions up to 11% and 7% are possible with natural gas and fuel gas respectively. In addition, we look forward to issuing our 19th Annual Sustainability Report in May. The material in our report reinforce our ongoing commitment to sustainability. With that I'll turn it over to Andrew.


James Umpleby: Thanks, Ryan. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. I'd like to start by thanking our global team for their strong execution in the first half of the year. In the second quarter, we achieved higher adjusted operating profit margin, record adjusted profit per share and generated robust ME&T free cash flow. Our results continue to reflect the benefit of the diversity of our end-markets as well as the disciplined execution of our strategy for long-term profitable growth. I'll begin with my perspectives about our performance in the quarter and we'll provide an update on our full year expectations. I'll then provide some insights about our end-markets, followed by an update on our sustainability journey. Moving to quarterly results. Sales and revenues were down 4% in the second quarter versus last year, slightly below our expectations. Services increased in the quarter. Our adjusted operating profit increased to $3.7 billion, a record. Adjusted operating profit margin was better than we expected and improved to 22.4% up 110 basis points versus last year. We achieved a record quarterly adjusted profit per share of $5.99, up 8%. We also generated $2.5 billion of ME&T free cash flow in the quarter. In addition, our backlog increased to $28.6 billion, up $700 million versus the first quarter of 2024. Before I get into the detail of the quarter and outlook for our segments, I'll update our expectations for the full year based on our first half results. Earlier in the year, we estimated that sales and revenues would be broadly similar for the full year. For the first half, the top-line came in marginally below our expectations and ended 2% below the prior year. We now anticipate our sales and revenues will decline at a roughly similar rate in the second half versus the prior year, in-part due to our latest assumptions for dealer inventory, principally into Resource Industries. Overall sales to users and construction industries are running slightly lower than we anticipated, partially offset by stronger-than-expected sales in Energy and Transportation. Service revenues continue to grow. Although sales and revenues have been marginally below our expectations, adjusted operating profit margins have been stronger than we anticipated. Earlier in the year, we expected our adjusted operating profit margin to be in the top half of the target range at the corresponding level of sales. Due to the strength of our performance in the first half of the year, we now expect overall adjusted operating profit margins to be above the top of the target range for the full year. For the second half, we expect adjusted operating profit margins to be better than we previously anticipated or about flat to the second half of 2023, which Andrew will describe. The strength of our performance to date and our improved second half adjusted operating profit margin expectations give us confidence to guide above our target range. Overall, our expectations for full year adjusted operating profit and adjusted profit per share are now higher than it was during our last earnings call. We also anticipate that ME&T free cash flow will remain in the top half of the free cash flow target range. Turning to Slide 4 and our second quarter results. In the second quarter of 2024, sales and revenues declined 4% to $16.7 billion. Sales volume declined slightly more than we expected, while price realization, including geographic mix was better than we anticipated. Dealer inventory also declined in the second quarter. Compared to the second quarter of 2023, overall sales to users decreased 3%, slightly below expectations. For machines, which includes Construction Industries and Resource Industries, sales to users declined by 8%, slightly more than expected. Energy and transportation continued to show strength as sales to users increased 10%. Sales to users in Construction Industries were down 5%. In North America, sales to users were slightly lower than anticipated, primarily due to weaker than expected rental fleet loading. Government related infrastructure projects remained healthy. Residential sales to users in North America were up as demand for new housing remained resilient. Sales to users declined in the EAME, primarily due to weakness in Europe relating to residential construction and economic conditions. Sales to users in Asia Pacific declined, while Latin America increased. In Resource Industries, sales to users declined 15%, a slightly smaller decline than we expected versus a very strong second quarter in 2023. Mining as well as heavy construction and quarry and aggregates were lower, mainly due to softness we previously discussed for two products, articulated trucks and off-highway trucks. In Energy and Transportation, despite the ongoing weakness in industrial, sales to users increased by 10% as we continue to see strength across most applications. Oil and gas sales to users benefited from strong sales of turbines and turbine related services. We also saw increased sales of reciprocating engines into gas compression, while well servicing oil and gas applications were lower. Power generation sales to users grew as market conditions remained favorable, including strong data center growth. Transportation sales to users increased, while industrial declined as expected from the strong levels last year. Our results continue to reflect the benefit of the diversity of our end-markets as well as the disciplined execution of our strategy for long-term profitable growth. Moving to dealer inventory. In total, dealer inventory decreased by $200 million versus the first quarter. For machines, dealer inventory decreased by $400 million and remains within our typical range. As I mentioned, backlog increased to $28.6 billion, up $700 million versus the first quarter of 2024. Energy & Transportation drove the increase as we continue to see strong demand for solar turbines and reciprocating engines for power generation. Adjusted operating profit margin increased to 22.4% in the second quarter, a 110 basis point increase over last year, which was better than we anticipated. Margin exceeded our expectations, primarily due to lower than expected manufacturing costs and slightly better than expected price. Moving to Slide 5, we generated ME&T free cash flow of $2.5 billion in the second quarter. We deployed more than $1.8 billion of cash for share repurchases and about $600 million in dividends in the second quarter. In June, we announced an additional $20 billion share repurchase authorization with no expiration date. We remain committed to consistent share repurchases. Since 2019, when we communicated our intention to return substantially all ME&T free cash flow to shareholders over time, our net share count has decreased by approximately 18%. In addition, we increased our dividend by 8% in the second quarter, which is our fourth straight year of a high single-digit quarterly increase. We remain proud of our Dividend Aristocrat status and continue to expect to return substantially all ME&T free cash to shareholders over time through dividends and share repurchases. Now on Slide 6. I'll describe our expectations for our three primary segments moving forward. In Construction Industries, after a record 2023, sales to users in the second half are now expected to decline slightly versus last year. In North America, we now anticipate slightly lower construction industry sales to users for full year 2024 than we did previously, primarily due to weaker than expected rental fleet loading. Government related infrastructure projects are expected to remain healthy. In Asia Pacific, outside of China, we still expect soft economic conditions to continue. We anticipate demand in China will remain at a relatively low level for the above 10 ton excavator industry. In the EAME, we anticipate that weak economic conditions in Europe will continue, somewhat offset by continued healthy construction demand in the Middle East. Construction activity in Latin America remains mixed, but overall, we are expecting modest growth. In addition, we are expecting the ongoing benefit of our services initiatives will positively impact Construction Industries. Next, I'll discuss Resource Industries. After strong performance in 2023 in mining as well as heavy construction, in quarry and aggregates, we continue to anticipate lower machine volume versus last year, primarily due to off-highway and articulated trucks. We currently anticipate a decrease in Resource Industries dealer inventories in 2024 versus a slight increase last year. We expect to see higher services revenues, including robust rebuild activity. Customer product utilization remains high, the number of parked trucks remains low and the age of the fleet remains elevated and our autonomous solutions continue to see strong customer acceptance. Customers continue to display capital discipline, however, we continue to believe the energy transition will support increased commodity demand over time, expanding our total addressable market and providing further opportunities for long-term profitable growth. Moving to Energy & Transportation. In oil and gas, in total, we expect a stronger year overall in 2024 versus last year. After a strong 2023, we expect reciprocating engine sales in oil and gas to be flat to slightly down, primarily due to ongoing softness in well servicing. We still expect gas compression to be up for the full year, however, we expect it to soften in the second half. For solar turbines, we continue to expect volume growth in the second half as our backlog remains strong for oil and gas. CAT reciprocating engine and solar turbine demand for power generation is expected to remain strong, largely due to continued data center growth relating to cloud computing and Generative AI. Industrial demand is expected to remain at a relatively low level compared to 2023 in the second half. In Transportation, we anticipate growth as the year progresses in both high speed marine and rail services. Moving to Slide 7. I'll provide an update on our sustainability journey. We are contributing to a reduced carbon future and continue to invest in new products, technologies and services to help our customers achieve their climate related objectives. In April, Caterpillar and Vale signed an agreement to test battery-electric large mining trucks as well as to conduct studies on ethanol powered trucks. Progress has been made on both initiatives since the agreement was signed, including conducting a joint study on a dual-fuel solution for haul trucks operating on ethanol and diesel fuel. We are supporting Vale's sustainability objectives. In June, we added CAT CG260 Gas Generator sets to our portfolio of commercially available power solutions capable of running on hydrogen fuel. Previously, our portfolio with this capability ranged from 400 KW to 2,500 KW. The addition of the CG260 now provides up to 4,500 KW of electric power for continuous, prime and load management requirements and is approved to operate on gas containing up to 25% hydrogen by volume. Caterpillar offers retrofit kits to upgrade CG260 Generator sets already installed with these same hydrogen capabilities. In addition to our hydrogen capabilities and reciprocating engines, solar turbines has been a leader with its ability to burn a wide variety of fuels, including hydrogen, natural gas and biofuels. Today, Caterpillar has a large and growing lineup of technologies to support customers in their sustainability journey. These two examples highlight how we are helping our customers build a better, more sustainable world. With that, I'll turn it over to Andrew.

ME&T free cash flow $2.5 billion second quarter