Caterpillar soars on Q3 earnings beat and better-than-expected outlook

Caterpillar jumped Wednesday morning after the construction equipment giant delivered strong third-quarter results and an upbeat full-year outlook.

Adjusted earnings per share reached $4.95, topping Wall Street’s estimate of $4.53. Meanwhile, revenue rose 10% to a record $17.6 billion, coming in well ahead of expectations around $16.8 billion.

Caterpillar’s Energy & Transportation unit was a standout, with sales up 17% as demand for power generation equipment used in data centers helped push the company’s backlog to a record $39.8 billion.

On the call, management said the results position Caterpillar “for sustained momentum and long-term profitable growth,” citing stronger demand tied to cloud computing and AI-driven infrastructure. Caterpillar now expects “modestly higher” sales for the full year, including a strong fourth quarter, after analysts had previously forecast a decline. 

The stock is now up more than 63% year to date.