Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) designs, manufactures, and markets construction, mining, and forestry machinery.
Caterpillar Inc. reported better-than-expected second-quarter results, boosting investor confidence despite ongoing economic concerns.
Q2 2026 results
Caterpillar is held in the US Growth Portfolio, and in the US Starter Pack. The company reported June quarter results before the open on Tuesday 4 August.
| Metric | Actual | Consensus |
| Sales and revenues | $20.54bn | $18.4 to 19.3bn |
| Adjusted profit per share | $8.17 | $6.20 |
| Backlog | $72.1bn | prior quarter $62.7bn |
| Adjusted operating margin | 21.9% | prior year 17.6% |
Sales and revenues rose 24 percent to $20.54 billion, the first quarter above $20 billion in company history and well ahead of consensus estimates that clustered between $18.4 and $19.3 billion. Volume contributed $3.1 billion and price realisation $595 million. Adjusted profit per share of $8.17 rose 73 percent and beat the $6.20 estimate by about 32 percent. Reported profit per share was $7.77. The adjusted operating margin reached 21.9 percent, up from 17.6 percent.
All three primary segments grew. Construction Industries sales rose 35 percent to $8.35 billion with profit up 57 percent and margin at 23.3 percent. Power and Energy, renamed from Energy and Transportation, rose 17 percent to $8.24 billion, with power generation sales up 29 percent to $3.10 billion and retail sales to users in that application up 72 percent. Resource Industries rose 20 percent to $4.65 billion.
Backlog reached a record $72.1 billion, up $9.4 billion sequentially and 92 percent year on year. Chief executive Joe Creed attributed power generation strength to “very strong demand for large gensets and turbines used in data center applications” and said customers are asking for more units rather than slowing down. Caterpillar is restarting its 10MW medium-speed gas reciprocating engine platform, bringing about 1.5 gigawatts of capacity back online with shipments starting in the fourth quarter, and targets gas turbine capacity at 2.5 times 2024 levels.
Tariffs cost about $400 million in the quarter excluding recoveries, below the roughly $700 million expected, and $392 million of IEEPA recoveries offset most of that. Full-year tariff costs were narrowed to about $2.2 billion, the bottom of the April range, and the outlook assumes no further IEEPA recoveries in the second half.
Caterpillar raised its full-year sales outlook to mid to high teens growth from low double digits, and lifted the machinery, power and energy free cash flow outlook to the top half of its $6 to $15 billion target range. The adjusted margin wording held at near the bottom of the target range, though the basis now excludes IEEPA recoveries.
Shares closed up 5.6 percent at $876.54, having opened 11 percent higher and given back more than half the gain.
