After posting third quarter reports, Caterpiller, makers of bulldozers and excavators, has surpised everyone by substantially raising its forecast for the year and exceeding analysts' predictions considerably.

On the news their stock rose 3% topping its 33% gain over this year.

During the worst worldwide ecenomic decline since the Great Depression, Caterpillar has massively slashed jobs and inventory.

Almost 19,000 full-time jobs and about the same number of part-time positions have disappeared since December 2008. Sales have gone down by 44% in the third quarter as compared to last year.

The company believes that they may have finally seen the bottom.

Caterpiller management expects the world economy to grow by about 3% in 2010, which would be the best growth since 2007. 

As the world improves, the expectation is that business, especially in the mining and construction sectors, will start to gain back its strength.

[NY Times and Bloomberg News]