Caterpillar Stock Hit a Record Wednesday—AI Had a Lot To Do With It

David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images Caterpillar reported gains in its construction industries sector as well as in its other two units

Key Takeaways

Caterpillar reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue on strong demand for equipment needed for artificial intelligence data centers. Caterpillar said even though tariff costs were at the high end of its outlook, the impact was offset by higher volumes.

Caterpillar (CAT) shares skyrocketed to an all-time high when the big farm and construction machines maker easily beat profit and sales expectations, with strong demand for data center power-generation equipment more than offsetting tariff headwinds.

The company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $4.95, about 10% above what analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha were looking for. Revenue increased 9.5% to $17.64 billion, $1 billion above forecasts.

Why This News Matters

All three of Caterpillar's business segments posted quarterly gains, but a key driver of its future growth may be an unexpected one for the construction equipment maker: AI data centers' demand for electricity. That helps explain why Caterpillar stock is one of the year's top performers.

All three of Caterpillar’s segments posted gains, but the Energy and Transportation unit was the big story, with sales jumping 17% to $8.4 billion. Within the energy segment, power generation sales surged 31%, easily outpacing other applications. Sales rose 7% to $6.76 billion in Caterpillar's Construction Industries segment, and increased 2% to $3.11 billion in Resource Industries.

In a call with analysts, CEO Joe Creed said the strong results this quarter were "driven by resilient demand and focused execution across our three primary segments," according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. Creed also said tariff costs were at the top end of the company's estimate of $500 million to $600 million, but even with that headwind, “adjusted operating profit margin was slightly above our expectation, primarily due to better than expected sales volume."

Shares of Caterpillar were up 12% in midday trading on Wednesday and are up more than 60% in 2025.

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