What Mattered Most In Caterpillar’s Latest Quarter?

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Caterpillar (CAT) stock fell 9.3% on October 29, the day the company reported fiscal Q3 2026 results, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.3%. Yet both sales and profit per share landed within 1% of analysts’ forecasts. Sales of $20.7 billion came in just below the $20.8 billion forecast, and adjusted profit per share of $7.20 finished just above the $7.16 projection. With the headline figures close to what was expected, what else in the report should a Caterpillar holder look at?

Caterpillar’s Order Backlog Nearly Doubled In A Year

For a holder, the line that matters most is the backlog: orders customers have placed that Caterpillar has not yet filled. Management said on the October 29 call that the backlog reached a record $78 billion at the end of the quarter, up about 96% from a year earlier.

A backlog becomes revenue only as Caterpillar builds and ships the equipment. Management expects 58% of the backlog to become sales within the next 12 months, close to the 59% figure it gave a quarter earlier. The rest extends further out, with management noting the company is now taking some large engine orders for as far out as 2029. As a result, the record order book will turn into sales over several years, not all within the next 12 months.

Sales Growth Slowed As Caterpillar’s Orders Rose

Even as the backlog kept climbing, Caterpillar’s revenue grew 17.3% from a year earlier in fiscal Q3 2026, slowing from 24.0% growth in fiscal Q2 2026. Management said the quarter’s sales matched its own expectations. Executives added that bringing more capacity online remains the main limit on growth in Power & Energy, the segment that builds large engines and turbines, including for data centers.

For the fourth quarter, management expects moderate sales growth from a year earlier, measuring against what it called a strong quarter in 2025. Over the past twelve months, revenue rose 20.3%, following a 1.5% fall in the twelve months before. So far, one reported quarter has slowed inside a year of strong growth.

How Is Caterpillar Adding Capacity?

Caterpillar is making room to build more of its large engines. Management plans to use part of the company’s Winston-Salem, North Carolina plant, which now makes locomotive engines, as a second site to assemble and test one of those engines. The move is part of a plan to nearly triple large engine capacity by 2030, compared with 2024. Management also said Caterpillar is facing some operational challenges and inefficiencies as it ramps up, noting the company would talk more about 2027 in January.

Between the close before the report and November 5, Caterpillar stock lost 22.4%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.0%. The shares now trade at 21.5 times the company’s earnings over the past twelve months, against a multiple of 22.9 for the S&P 500.

Shaken by the slide? Days like November 5 are rare. The record after them is worth a look.

The number to watch is Caterpillar’s fourth-quarter sales growth from a year earlier, which is due when the company reports in January 2027.

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