Why Is Caterpillar Soaring in 2017?

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) investors have enjoyed watching their stock appreciate nearly 24% in 2017 and 38% in the past year, so perhaps now it's time to take a step backward and look at just what's happened to propel the price higher. The construction and mining equipment company has outperformed the S&P 500 by some 15% this year, so clearly there's something stock-specific going on.

I have three reasons for what we've seen:

Image source: Getty Images.

Source: Fool.com