Caterpillar hits record quarterly revenue as construction demand accelerates

Companies

• CAT

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Caterpillar (CAT) reported record quarterly sales of $20.5 billion [1].

The results marked a period of accelerating growth and margin expansion for the construction and mining equipment maker. Revenue growth rose to 24% year-over-year in the second quarter, up from 22% in the first quarter and 10% in the third quarter of 2025 [1][2][3].

Operating profit margin expanded to 20.9% from 17.3% in the second quarter of 2025 [1][2][3]. This followed a period of stagnation where margins sat at 17.7% in the first quarter of 2026 and 17.3% in the third quarter of 2025 [1][2][3]. Adjusted operating profit margin followed a similar trajectory, rising to 21.9% from 17.6% a year earlier [1][2][3].

Growth was driven by $3.1 billion in higher sales volume and $595 million in favorable price realization [1][4]. These figures exceeded the first quarter's volume gains of $2.3 billion and pricing gains of $426 million [1][4].

The Construction Industries segment led the company's performance with a 35% year-over-year increase in sales [5]. Profit margin for the segment expanded 3.2 percentage points to 23.3% [6]. The Resource Industries segment saw sales grow 20% with a margin of 14.9% [5][7], while the Power & Energy segment grew 17% with a margin of 24.6% [5][8].

Financial Products segment profit rose 32% to $328 million, while past dues improved to 1.31% from 1.62% in the prior-year period [9][10]. The company included $392 million in expected International Emergency Economic Power Act tariff recoveries in its operating profit [9].

Caterpillar recorded $139 million in restructuring costs related to the divestiture of certain non-U.S. entities [11].

The company increased its quarterly dividend by 8% to $1.63 a share [12]. Total cash deployed for dividends and share repurchases was $2.2 billion, a decrease from the $5.7 billion deployed in the first quarter [1][2].

Citations

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