The Earth King Cometh (NYSE: TEX)

NEW YORK - Terex corporation one of the largest construction company's in the world announced its Q4 results after the closing bell today. The industrial world has long used Terex as a proxy to help determine the manufacturing health of the United States ever since it was spun off from General Motors in 1968.

The manufacturing giant posted revenue growth of 31% from the previous year as revenue came in at $1.3 billion from $1 billion Q4 last 2010. Earnings per share was a loss of 42 cents or $45.3 million compared to a loss of $1.32 a share or $142 million last year. Three of Terex's four operating segments returned to profitability in the quarter. Ronald M DeFeo the CEO of Terex said "The foundation of a business recovery has become visible to us, although we are in the early stages."

Terex said that they expect to earn $220 to $250 million earnings from operations in 2011. The company also expects 13-22% revenue growth. The company expects earnings per share of $0.60 to $0.75 a share for the year.

Backlog increased 10% from September 2010 and 5% from December 2009.

To see the full Terex report click here.

By Segments
Aerial Work Platform- which are elevating platforms that help workers reach products at higher heights saw revenue surge 66% from the previous year. Earnings improved to $11 million from a loss of $32 million

Construction - saw segment revenue increase by 54.3% to $318.4 million from $206 million. The company reported an operating loss of $5.0 million from the previous year of $51.7 million, or 25.1% of net sales.

Cranes - sales for the Cranes increased 1.8% to $549 from $540 million. Operating profit decreased to $15.7 million from $30.2 million in the fourth quarter last year.

Materials Processing - The newly created segment after its dispersion of its mining division to Bucyrus saw net sales surge 75.2%, to $145 million from $62 million. The company reported an operating profit of $5.3 million and increase from a loss of $8.5 million last year.

Corporate and Other / Eliminations - Posted a loss of $28.2 million during the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to $15.5 million in Q4 last year. This was impacted by higher elimination of inter company profits. Which is profits which are sold from one of the segments above to another which must be eliminated for the purposes of consolidation.