Caterpillar reported record Q4 2025 results on the back of strong volume growth, especially in power and energy. The company saw robust order intake, resulting in a record backlog of $51 billion, and provided a strong growth outlook for 2026, though tempered by significant tariff headwinds. Q4 revenue of $19.1B (+18% YoY) and record full-year revenue of $67.6B.
Caterpillar reported record Q4 2025 results on the back of strong volume growth, especially in power and energy. The company saw robust order intake, resulting in a record backlog of $51 billion, and provided a strong growth outlook for 2026, though tempered by significant tariff headwinds. Q4 revenue of $19.1B (+18% YoY) and record full-year revenue of $67.6B.
Caterpillar reported record Q4 2025 results on the back of strong volume growth, especially in power and energy. The company saw robust order intake, resulting in a record backlog of $51 billion, and provided a strong growth outlook for 2026, though tempered by significant…
Management highlighted record backlog, record sales, robust demand across all segments, and expressed confidence in executing through tariff headwinds and hitting margin targets over time.
Backlog hit a record $51 billion, up 71% year-over-year. Management highlighted record backlog, record sales, robust demand across all segments, and expressed confidence in executing through tariff headwinds and hitting margin targets over time.
Reported gross margin was 28.62%, reinforcing the quarter's better-than-guided profitability.
Management framed AI as both a demand driver and a technology opportunity: data center build-out for cloud/generative AI is fueling power and energy growth, while Caterpillar is positioning itself as an industrial AI/autonomy leader with the launch of its CAT AI Assistant to help customers buy, maintain, manage, and operate equipment.
Backlog hit a record $51 billion, up 71% year-over-year. Management highlighted record backlog, record sales, robust demand across all segments, and expressed confidence in executing through tariff headwinds and hitting margin targets over time.
Capex is expected to be around $3.5 billion in 2026, driven primarily by capacity expansion plans, including efforts to double large engine capacity and more than double industrial gas turbine capacity. Management expects MP&E free cash flow to be slightly lower than 2025 due to the higher capital expenditures.
Management highlighted record backlog, record sales, robust demand across all segments, and expressed confidence in executing through tariff headwinds and hitting margin targets over time.
“Overall, you know, just remind you that in power and energy, we are capacity constrained.”
“So right now we're not seeing, you know, 100% battery backup. It's mostly generators... they're using our fast start gas gensets for backup power versus diesel when they do a couple of the big orders we've seen for gas prime power.”
“obviously, we are basing our estimates based on the capacity we have today. As Joe mentioned, we are obviously trying and we've managed to build, bring a little bit earlier online. But obviously, that is not certain at this stage. So, obvi…”
| Metric | Period | Range | Midpoint | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capex | FY2026 | $3.5B | $3.5B | GUIDED |
| Op margin | FY2026 | 16%–18% | 17% | GUIDED |
| Revenue | FY2026 | $70.98B–$72.33B | $71.655B | GUIDED |
Vale is adopting Caterpillar's autonomous haulage solution for its mixed fleet in Brazil, indicating a major win in the mining sector and deepening the relationship.
“last month, Caterpillar and Sotrac, our dealer in Brazil, announced an agreement to provide Vale an autonomy solution for a mixed fleet of more than 90 trucks.”
… in our autonomous hauling solution remains strong, and we're making steady progress towards our 2030 goal to triple the number of CAD autonomous haul trucks in operation compared to 2024. We ended the year with 827 autonomous haul trucks in operation, up from 690 at the end of 2024. Adoption is expected to accelerate given our proven solution, our expansion into quarries, and our ability to support mixed fleets. For example, last month, Caterpillar and Sotrac, our dealer in Brazil, announced an agreement to provide Vale an autonomy solution for a mixed fleet of more than 90 trucks. Power and energy delivered meaningful progress towards our 2030 goal to more than double power generation sales compared to 2024. In 2025, power generation sales exceeded $10 billion, which is year-over-year growth of more than 30%. We're also on track in our multi-year effort to double our large engine capacity and more than double our industrial gas turbine capacity. As we've discussed, the additional capacity will serve a broad range of applications, and the phasing will occur between now and the end of 2030. Now on slide six, I'll provide our 2026 outlook. Overall, we anticipate full-year …