** Caterpillar CAT.N shares down 0.8% at $304.65 ahead of Q1 results due before the opening bell on Wednesday
** The maker of construction equipment is expected to report EPS of $4.35 on revenue of $14.661 bln, per LSEG data, vs yr-ago results of $5.60 per share in earnings and revenue of $15.799 bln
** CAT has met or beaten EPS in seven of past eight quarters, with a sole miss in Q3 2024; on revenue side, CAT has missed in three of past eight qtrs, with most recent miss last qtr
** Of the 28 analysts that cover CAT, the breakdown of recommendations is 10 "strong buy" or "buy," 15 "hold" and 3 "sell" or "strong sell" ratings
** Median price target of $372 is down from $385.99 a month ago
** CAT shares down 15.7% YTD vs 4.9% decline in Dow Industrials .DJI
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak)
((charles.mikolajczak@tr.com; @chuckmik.bsky.social))