Caterpillar remains on the Top 15 brokers list

Despite recent massive lay-offs and profit drop affecting Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), the heavyweight machinery maker and bellwether of the global economy firm continues to rank high among analysts.

According to ETF Channel, the Illinois-based company is the #9 broker’s pick, on average, out of the 30 stocks making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The world’s biggest maker of earthmoving equipment also came in above the median of analyst picks among the broader S&P 500 index components, claiming the #121 spot out of 500.

The news come only a day after Hedge fund guru, Jim Chanos, announced he was shorting the stock, causing CAT to dropped 2.3% to $86.14 Wednesday.

Chanos, who is the founder of New York-based Kynikos Associates, said at the Delivering Alpha investor conference that Caterpillar’s growth projections are overblown, adding that even though the American economy is in recovery mode, the firm is still exposed to commodity price fluctuations.

Read more: Anglo American's new CEO sets out to woo the markets

For Mark Cutifani, the new chief executive of Anglo American, the group’s half-year results could represent something of a breather.

The Australian has spent much of his first three months heading up the mining giant busy on a whistle-stop tour of its global businesses. Friday will mark a short break in his travels.

But that may be his only respite for a while. This week, alongside the financial numbers, Cutifani will present his view of the business and, crucially, sets out what needs to be done.

It will not mark the final outcome of the review so much as an update. But it does offer Cutifani the opportunity to set out a path forward for the group and, he hopes, start to swing market sentiment back in Anglo’s favour. “It’s about being much more commercially-minded across the board, including at our operations,” he says.

In exploration, for example, he emphasises the need to pull the plug on projects that are not worth pursuing earlier in the process. To put this into context, Anglo spent about $900m (£590m) on evaluating projects last year.