Caterpillar Surpasses Q4 Earnings Expectations, But Revenue Misses The Mark: Retail’s Disappointed

Shares of Caterpillar, Inc. (CAT) fell over 4% on Thursday after the firm’s fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet Wall Street expectations.

Total sales and revenues declined 5% year-over-year (YoY) to $16.215 billion, primarily driven by a lower sales volume of $859 million. According to the firm, the decrease in sales volume was mainly due to changes in dealer inventories and lower equipment sales to end users.

Earnings per share (EPS) stood at $5.14 compared to an analyst estimate of $5.03.

Construction Industries’ total sales fell 8% to $6.003 billion in the fourth quarter, led by unfavorable price realization of $300 million and lower sales volume of $227 million. Resource Industries’ total sales fell 9% to $2.962 billion, led by lower sales volume hurt by the impact of changes in dealer inventories.

Energy & Transportation’s total sales fell marginally to $7.649 billion, led by lower sales volume of $301 million, partially offset by favorable price realization of $221 million and higher inter-segment sales of $52 million.

Financial Products’ segment revenues grew 4% to $1.024 billion.

In 2024, Caterpillar deployed $7.7 billion of cash for repurchases of its common stock and $2.6 billion of cash for dividends.

Despite the earnings beat, retail sentiment on Stocktwits inched lower into the ‘extremely bearish’ territory (16/100) from ‘bullish’ a day ago, hitting a year-low level. The move was accompanied by ‘extremely high’ message volume.

CAT’s Sentiment Meter and Message Volume as of 10:08 a.m. ET on Jan. 30, 2025 | Source: Stocktwits

User comments on Stocktwits indicated a mixed take on the stock.

Caterpillar shares have gained over 4% year-to-date and have risen over 23% over the past year.

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