Caterpillar Inc. said its fourth quarter earnings rose 10 percent, beating Wall Street’s estimates, but the company forecast a 5 to 10 percent decline in profits in 2001.

Peoria, IL-based Caterpillar said it earned $264 million or 76 cents per share in the latest quarter, compared with $239 million or 67 cents a share a year earlier.

Higher sales volume, a favorable tax adjustment and manufacturing efficiencies were offset by the negative impact of the strength in the dollar, especially against the euro.

According a First Call/Thomson Financial survey of 15 analysts, the mean estimate was for a profit of 64 cents per share.

In what Caterpillar described as a "difficult global business environment", it reported a 1.8 percent increase in fourth quarter sales and revenue to $5.11 billion from $5.02 billion a year ago.

For 2001, Caterpillar said it expected sales to be flat, weighed down by a decline in North American sales of construction equipment. In October, Caterpillar predicted sales and revenue would increase slightly worldwide in 2001.

"We expect 2001 to be another challenging year for our industry. In general, many of the markets we serve will continue to be cyclically depressed with excess capacity and ongoing price pressure," Caterpillar chairman and chief executive Glen Barton said in a news release.

"As a result, company sales and revenues are expected to be about flat, with declines in North America balanced by higher sales in all other regions of the world," he said.

Shares of Caterpillar, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, have underperformed the blue-chip index by about 2 percent over the past year.