Here's What Key Metrics Tell Us About Caterpillar (CAT) Q1 Earnings

For the quarter ended March 2025, Caterpillar (CAT) reported revenue of $14.25 billion, down 9.8% over the same period last year. EPS came in at $4.25, compared to $5.60 in the year-ago quarter.

The reported revenue represents a surprise of -2.01% over the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $14.54 billion. With the consensus EPS estimate being $4.30, the EPS surprise was -1.16%.

While investors scrutinize revenue and earnings changes year-over-year and how they compare with Wall Street expectations to determine their next move, some key metrics always offer a more accurate picture of a company's financial health.

Since these metrics play a crucial role in driving the top- and bottom-line numbers, comparing them with the year-ago numbers and what analysts estimated about them helps investors better project a stock's price performance.

Here is how Caterpillar performed in the just reported quarter in terms of the metrics most widely monitored and projected by Wall Street analysts:

• Sales Volume - Total: -$1.11 billion versus -$1.15 billion estimated by two analysts on average.
• Sales Volume - Machinery, Energy & Transportation - Construction Industries: -$820 million versus -$722.63 million estimated by two analysts on average.
• Sales Volume - Machinery, Energy & Transportation - Resource Industries: -$179 million compared to the -$360.04 million average estimate based on two analysts.
• Price Realization - Machinery, Energy & Transportation - Energy & Transportation: $155 million versus the two-analyst average estimate of $60.29 million.
• Sales and Revenues- Asia/Pacific- Machinery, Energy & Transportation: $2.40 billion compared to the $2.58 billion average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of -11.9% year over year.
• Sales and Revenues- Asia/Pacific- Machinery, Energy & Transportation- All Other Segments: $12 million versus $13.15 million estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -7.7% change.
• Sales and Revenues- Latin America- Machinery, Energy & Transportation: $1.44 billion versus $1.43 billion estimated by three analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -2.8% change.
• Sales and Revenues- North America- Machinery, Energy & Transportation: $7.14 billion compared to the $7.20 billion average estimate based on three analysts. The reported number represents a change of -10.9% year over year.
• Total sales and revenues- Machinery, Energy & Transportation- Construction Industries: $5.18 billion compared to the $5.47 billion average estimate based on six analysts. The reported number represents a change of -19.3% year over year.
• Total sales and revenues- Financial Products- Total: $871 million compared to the $895.58 million average estimate based on six analysts. The reported number represents a change of +3.8% year over year.
• Total sales and revenues- Machinery, Energy & Transportation- Total: $13.38 billion compared to the $13.66 billion average estimate based on six analysts. The reported number represents a change of -10.6% year over year.
• Total sales and revenues- Machinery, Energy & Transportation- Resource Industries: $2.88 billion versus $2.85 billion estimated by six analysts on average. Compared to the year-ago quarter, this number represents a -9.7% change.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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