Caterpillar beats Q3 estimates (EPS $7.20, revenue $20.7B) but shares plunge ~9% premarket as guidance stays flat (Oct 29)

What happened

Caterpillar reported Q3 revenue of $20.68 billion (+17% y/y) and adjusted EPS of $7.20 (+45% y/y), beating consensus of roughly $7.06-$7.08 on EPS and topping $20.55 billion revenue estimates. Operating margin expanded to ~20.6%, up ~3 points y/y. The order backlog hit a record $78.1 billion, up $6 billion from Q2 and $38.2 billion y/y. Power-and-energy sales rose 18% to $8.78 billion on data-center demand; construction industries rose 18% to $7.98 billion; resource industries rose 15% to $4.62 billion. Despite the beat, the company merely maintained full-year guidance (mid-to-high-teens revenue growth) and kept its $2.2 billion tariff-cost forecast — and shares sank 9-10% in premarket trading to ~$640-$652.

Who’s affected

• Caterpillar (CAT): -9% premarket, ~$650, a Dow component. Read-through: AI-infrastructure-adjacent industrials (Vertiv, power-generation names) under pressure; the move sharpens the market-wide AI-capex-sustainability debate hitting megacaps this week. Potential retail-sector effects are nil; this is an industrials/AI-trade story.