	salomon raises caterpillar cat opinion salomon brothers inc said it raised its opinion on caterpillar inc s stock to an aggressive buy from a hold because of a brighter ings outlook for salomon analyst david sutliff said in a statement he sees ings of dlrs a share up from an earlier forecast of three dlrs for the year the outlook for remains at dlrs to three dlrs caterpillar s stock was down points at although ings will be poor for the next two quarters we believe that profits could begin to improve in the second half perhaps significantly and should surge sharply through and he said sutliff said improved results should come from four factors higher prices improved market share reduced costs and improved demand the higher prices will stick because its japanese competitor komatsu has had to raise prices because of the increased value of the yen he said reuter 
