Overview
- Caterpillar reported a record fiscal second quarter with about $20.54 billion in revenue and $8.17 in adjusted earnings per share, beating Wall Street estimates.
- The company disclosed a company-record $72.1 billion order backlog and said its Power & Energy segment grew sharply on orders for large generators and turbines used at data centers.
- Caterpillar's shares have surged this year as investors re-price the firm for AI-related infrastructure demand, roughly doubling over the past year and rising strongly year-to-date.
- The rally has pushed valuation multiples well above typical industrial peers and attracted high-profile bearish bets, with some analysts warning that regulation of data centers or a slowdown in projects could cut into growth.
- Broad hyperscaler spending plans for data centers are shifting AI exposure beyond chipmakers to heavy equipment and power suppliers, a change that could boost local construction jobs and fuel sustained demand for site development and on-site power systems.