Workers walk past Caterpillar excavator machines at a factory in Gosselies, Belgium. Caterpillar Inc posted disappointing quarterly results and cut its 2013 profit forecast yesterday to reflect a drop in demand for heavy equipment from its mining customers. The Illinois-based company said it now expects to report a 2013 profit of US$7 per share on sales of US$57-61 billion. That was down from a previously estimated profit of between US$7 and US$9 a share on sales of US$60-68 billion. The world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment said it earned a profit of US$880 million, down from US$1.59 billion in the year-ago quarter.