Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) Q3 2025 Financial Results Summary
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) released its third-quarter 2025 financial results on October 29, 2025.
Key Financial Metrics:
- Sales and Revenues: $17.6 billion, up 10% from $16.1 billion in Q3 2024
- Profit Per Share: $4.88, decreased by 3.6% from $5.06 in Q3 2024
- Adjusted Profit Per Share: $4.95, down 4.3% from $5.17 in Q3 2024
- Operating Profit: $3.052 billion, down 3% from $3.147 billion in Q3 2024
- Operating Profit Margin: 17.3%, decreased by 2.2 percentage points from 19.5% in Q3 2024
- Adjusted Operating Profit Margin: 17.5%, down 2.5 percentage points from 20.0% in Q3 2024
- Enterprise Operating Cash Flow: $3.7 billion
- Enterprise Cash: $7.5 billion
Segment Performance:
- Construction Industries:
- Sales: $6.76 billion, up 7% from $6.345 billion in Q3 2024
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Segment Profit: $1.377 billion, decreased by 7% from $1.486 billion in Q3 2024
-
Resource Industries:
- Sales: $3.11 billion, up 2% from $3.048 billion in Q3 2024
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Segment Profit: $499 million, down 19% from $619 million in Q3 2024
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Energy & Transportation:
- Sales: $8.397 billion, up 17% from $7.187 billion in Q3 2024
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Segment Profit: $1.678 billion, up 17% from $1.433 billion in Q3 2024
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Financial Products:
- Revenues: $1.076 billion, up 4% from $1.034 billion in Q3 2024
- Segment Profit: $241 million, down 2% from $246 million in Q3 2024
Dividends and Share Repurchase:
- Caterpillar deployed $1.1 billion in cash during the third quarter towards:
- Dividends: $0.7 billion
- Share Repurchases: $0.4 billion
Operational Highlights:
- Sales volumes increased primarily due to higher equipment sales to end users across all primary segments.
- Operating profit was constrained by unfavorable manufacturing costs of $686 million, primarily due to increased tariffs, and higher SG&A and R&D expenses totaling a rise of $129 million.
- Partially offsetting these decreases were the impacts from higher sales volumes and lower restructuring costs.
Taxation:
- The effective tax rate for Q3 2025 was 26.7%, compared to 20.7% in Q3 2024.
- The estimated global annual effective tax rate (excluding discrete items) was 24.0%, up from 22.5% in the same quarter of the previous year.
Conclusion:
Caterpillar Inc. witnessed strong sales growth in Q3 2025 compared to the previous year’s quarter, attributed mainly to higher sales in its Energy & Transportation segment. However, profitability metrics showed declines largely due to increased costs and lesser favorable conditions regarding pricing realization and tariffs. The company’s strong cash position facilitated substantial cash deployment towards dividends and share repurchase initiatives.
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Results of Operations
(Millions of dollars)
| Sales and revenues: | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Sales of Machinery, Energy & Transportation | 16,726 | 15,231 |
| Revenues of Financial Products | 912 | 875 |
| Total sales and revenues | 17,638 | 16,106 |
| Operating costs: | ||
| Cost of goods sold | 11,673 | 10,066 |
| Selling, general and administrative expenses | 1,822 | 1,669 |
| Research and development expenses | 555 | 533 |
| Interest expense of Financial Products | 346 | 336 |
| Other operating (income) expenses | 190 | 355 |
| Total operating costs | 14,586 | 12,959 |
| Operating profit | 3,052 | 3,147 |
| Interest expense excluding Financial Products | 133 | 125 |
| Other income (expense) | 208 | 76 |
| Consolidated profit before taxes | 3,127 | 3,098 |
| Provision (benefit) for income taxes | 836 | 642 |
| Profit of consolidated companies | 2,291 | 2,456 |
| Equity in profit (loss) of unconsolidated affiliated companies | 8 | 7 |
| Profit of consolidated and affiliated companies | 2,299 | 2,463 |
| Less: Profit (loss) attributable to noncontrolling interests | -1 | -1 |
| Profit1 | 2,300 | 2,464 |
| Profit per common share | 4.91 | 5.09 |
| Profit per common share — diluted2 | 4.88 | 5.06 |
| Weighted-average common shares outstanding (millions) | ||
| – Basic | 468.6 | 484.2 |
| – Diluted2 | 470.8 | 486.7 |
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Financial Position
(Millions of dollars)
| Assets | September 30, 2025 | December 31, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Current assets: | ||
| Cash and cash equivalents | 7,538 | 6,889 |
| Receivables – trade and other | 10,146 | 9,282 |
| Receivables – finance | 10,315 | 9,565 |
| Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 2,861 | 3,119 |
| Inventories | 18,958 | 16,827 |
| Total current assets | 49,818 | 45,682 |
| Property, plant and equipment – net | 14,310 | 13,361 |
| Long-term receivables – trade and other | 1,618 | 1,225 |
| Long-term receivables – finance | 13,985 | 13,242 |
| Noncurrent deferred and refundable income taxes | 3,000 | 3,312 |
| Intangible assets | 281 | 399 |
| Goodwill | 5,329 | 5,241 |
| Other assets | 5,381 | 5,302 |
| Total assets | 93,722 | 87,764 |
| Liabilities | ||
| Current liabilities: | ||
| Short-term borrowings: | ||
| — Financial Products | 4,509 | 4,393 |
| Accounts payable | 8,729 | 7,675 |
| Accrued expenses | 5,187 | 5,243 |
| Accrued wages, salaries and employee benefits | 2,126 | 2,391 |
| Customer advances | 3,391 | 2,322 |
| Dividends payable | — | 674 |
| Other current liabilities | 2,760 | 2,909 |
| Long-term debt due within one year: | ||
| — Machinery, Energy & Transportation | 32 | 46 |
| — Financial Products | 9,257 | 6,619 |
| Total current liabilities | 35,991 | 32,272 |
| Long-term debt due after one year: | ||
| — Machinery, Energy & Transportation | 10,669 | 8,564 |
| — Financial Products | 17,067 | 18,787 |
| Liability for postemployment benefits | 3,664 | 3,757 |
| Other liabilities | 5,672 | 4,890 |
| Total liabilities | 73,063 | 68,270 |
| Shareholders’ equity | ||
| Common stock | 6,223 | 6,941 |
| Treasury stock | -48,302 | -44,331 |
| Profit employed in the business | 64,460 | 59,352 |
| Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) | -1,723 | -2,471 |
| Noncontrolling interests | 1 | 3 |
| Total shareholders’ equity | 20,659 | 19,494 |
| Total liabilities and shareholders’ equity | 93,722 | 87,764 |
