Cautious / Re: lambertslunatics - Re: FYI The is the Q earnings are on the 8TH..
in response to
by
posted on
Mar 30, 2010 01:12PM
Perhaps I am to an extent, but the point of my qualification was that of the $51B or so of annual revenue that Caterpillar collects, I suspect that most of it is due to the costs of the steel and fabrication of the actual yellow iron equipment, and not so much from these other "electronics" based systms. I'm not suggesting that they don't have a robust elctronics component, but just that proportionately, the revenue generated from large gradng machine is likely highly skewed toward paying for the steel and fabrication of components that went into buiding it, than in the microprocessors that improve it's ease of use, or to the other electronics based products that Caterpillar sells.
At the same time, one could argue that without the microprocessor driven amenities and systems contols that go into the machinery, Caterpillar wouldn't have the market edge that it has, and thus wouldn't be able to sell their equipment. I like that argument, but until I see a 10q that reflects the propotionate $20M in MMP revenues from the license, it is simply an argument at this point. Let's hope Alliancense as able to convince Caterpillar of it.