Caterpillar Inc , the world's largest maker of earth-moving equipment, reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday and raised its full-year forecast, saying economic conditions are definitely improving, especially in Asia and Latin America.

The news sent the company's shares up nearly 3 percent in premarket trade.

The Peoria, Illinois-based company reported a first-quarter profit of $233 million, or 36 cents a share. During the comparable period last year, Caterpillar reported a net loss of $112 million, or 19 cents a share.

Sales, including revenue from its financial service arm, fell 11 percent to $8.23 billion.

Stripping out one-time charges, including tax expenses of $90 million related to the recently signed U.S. health care legislation, the company reported a profit of 50 cents a share.

On that basis, analysts, on average, expected Caterpillar to report a profit of 39 cents a share on sales of $8.84 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Caterpillar also said it expects to report a full-year profit in the range of $2.50 to $3.25 a share on sales in the range of $38 billion to $42 billion. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report a profit of $2.69 a share on sales of $37 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by James B. Kelleher, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

Caterpillar Manufacturing