The world's largest heavy machinery maker, Illinois-based Caterpillar Inc reported a 58 percent rise in quarterly earnings that blew away Wall Street expectations and the company projected strong growth for 2012 despite global economic uncertainty.

The results of Caterpillar cap a record 2011 in terms of sales and profits and the company was supported by acquisitions, increased demand for mining equipment, favorable commodity prices, and growth in construction machinery and parts sales during the year.

The shares of the company went up 2.7 percent in premarket activity after the report.

The company is expecting to break records in 2012, with profit expected to rise 25 percent to $9.25 a share, and revenue projected to increase between 30 percent and 19 percent.

"We're expecting 2012 to be another year of good growth," Caterpillar Chief Executive Doug Oberhelman said in a press release. "We have to be prepared for recovery in the developed world beyond 2012 and continued growth in emerging markets."

The heavy machinery maker said net income for the fourth quarter was $1.55 billion, or $2.32 per share, compared with $968 million, or $1.47 per share, a year ago. Caterpillar will be investing about $4 billion on capital expenditures in 2012, compared with $2.6 billion in 2011.