Caterpillar Inc., heavy equipment maker, posted second-quarter earnings of $1.05 billion, or $1.52 a share vs. $760 million, or $1.08 a share a year earlier. Sales and revenue increased 13% to $10.61 billion from $9.36 billion a year earlier. Higher earnings were attributed to the better price realization and growing sales volumes, which were partially overshadowed by increasing core operating expenses. The company boosted its forecast for the year to earnings of $5.25 to $5.50 a share with sales and revenue climbing between 12% and 15% from an earlier guidance for earnings of $4.85 to $5.20 a share on sales and revenue increase of 10%.

Eli Lilly and Co. reported second-quarter earnings of $822 million, or 76 cents a share, versus a loss of $252 million, or 23 cents a share last year. The year-earlier results include a product liability expense of $1.073 billion, or 90 cents a share. Sales added 5% in the latest quarter to $3.87 billion helped by the company’s new products such as the depression treatment Cymbalta.

Microsoft Corp., the world''s largest software company, posted 24% lower fourth-quarter profit due to legal charges and higher expenses. Revenue rose 16% due to stronger sales of the company’s server software and Xbox 360 video-game consoles. Quarterly profit declined to $2.83 billion, or 28 cents a share, from $3.7 billion, or 34 cents a share, a year earlier. The most recent numbers include legal charges of 3 cents a share. Microsoft forecasted for the current fiscal year to be above expectations. The company additionally announced a tender off to repurchase $20 billion worth of its stock and a further buy back program for another $20 billion.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the world''s No. 2 PC chips maker, said that its second-quarter net income totaled $89 million, or 18 cents a share versus $11 million, or 3 cents a share last year. Sales were $1.22 billion compared with $1.26 billion a year earlier. The company’s prior-year results included the company’s NOR flash division, which was spun off in the second half of 2005. AMD sees sales for the third quarter above the year-ago levels.

Ericsson, the Swedish telecom equipment maker reported 1.7% decline in net income to SEK5.7 billion in the second-quarter as net sales advanced 15% to SEK44.2 billion. Sales in Western Europe climbed 26%, thanks to sales from the company''s services business and the added Marconi business, while mobile phone sales volumes remained unchanged from a year ago. North American sales plunged 42% as operators cut excess inventory. Ericsson expects its core markets to grow moderately in 2006 versus 2005.

Summit Financial Group Inc., bank holding company, posted second-quarter net income of $2.6 million, or 37 cents a share vs. $3.1 million, or 43 cents a year ago. Loan originations of $67.1 million slid 19.7% from the year-earlier period, while deposits at the end of the most recent quarter rose 34.8% from last year.

Cognos first-quarter earnings declined to $14.5 million, or 16 cents a share, from $20.4 million, or 22 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items, earnings would have been 16 cents a share. Revenue rose 8.5% from last year to $217 million, with license revenue climbing 3.6% to $73.7 million. The business development software firm sees second-quarter adjusted earnings at 22 to 26 cents a share and revenue at $220 million to $228 million.