Updated with market data as of the close on Monday, November 24, 2025
CAT stock price today: still near record highs
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) continues to trade near all‑time highs after another strong session on Monday.
- Last close:$559.60 per share, up about 1.7% on the day [1]
- After-hours indication: around $561.60 [2]
- Intraday range (Nov 24): $550.67 – $565.74 [3]
- Market cap: roughly $262 billion [4]
- 52‑week range:$267.30 – $596.21 [5]
Caterpillar shares are now up roughly 52% year to date, making CAT the top‑performing stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 2025, even beating out Nvidia’s ~40% gain this year. [6]
On Monday, CAT was also one of the main engines behind the broader market rally. According to MarketWatch data, gains in Merck and Caterpillar together added around 100–110 points to the Dow’s advance, with Caterpillar shares at one point up about 2.3–2.5% intraday. [7]
Fresh CAT stock news for November 24–25, 2025
Here are the most relevant developments investors are watching as of late November 24, 2025 (for publication on November 25):
1. Top Dow performer, re‑rated as an “AI infrastructure” play
A widely circulated piece, “Caterpillar Is Quietly Beating Nvidia Stock This Year. Should You Buy It?”, highlights that CAT has climbed 52% in 2025, outpacing Nvidia and every other Dow component. [8]
Key points from that analysis:
- Investors increasingly see Caterpillar not just as a cyclical machinery manufacturer, but as an “AI infrastructure” and power‑infrastructure play.
- Through the first nine months of 2025, Caterpillar generated about $48.5 billion in revenue, essentially flat year‑over‑year, while operating profit slipped ~16% — yet the stock has rallied strongly because of where growth is coming from. [9]
- In the Energy & Transportation segment, power generation revenue jumped about 28% year‑over‑year to $7.0 billion for the first nine months of 2025, driven by demand from data centers. [10]
- The company’s Energy & Transportation backlog has reached roughly $39.8 billion, an all‑time high, heavily supported by power solutions tied to cloud and AI data centers. [11]
That combination—flat aggregate revenue but explosive growth in power generation and a record backlog—is a major reason the market is re‑rating CAT from a traditional “cyclical industrial” to a company sitting in the middle of the AI infrastructure build‑out.
2. New data‑center collaboration with Vertiv (AI and energy)
On November 18, 2025, Caterpillar announced a new collaboration with Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) to deliver integrated power and cooling solutions for AI data centers. [12]
According to the joint press release:
- Vertiv will integrate its power distribution and cooling portfolio with Caterpillar and Solar Turbines’ power‑generation and CCHP (combined cooling, heat and power) solutions. [13]
- The goal is to provide pre‑designed architectures that simplify design, speed up deployment and improve efficiency and resiliency for large data centers—especially AI workloads that need huge, reliable power. [14]
This deal reinforces the market narrative that Caterpillar is becoming a core supplier to the AI data center ecosystem, not only through diesel and gas generators but increasingly sophisticated integrated power systems.
3. Institutional buying: Prudential boosts its CAT stake
A fresh 13F‑driven update on November 24 shows Prudential Financial Inc. increased its position in Caterpillar by 6.4% in Q2 to 292,036 shares, now owning about 0.06% of the company, valued around $113 million at the time of filing. [15]
Additional details from that same report:
- Overall, institutional investors own roughly 71% of Caterpillar’s shares, underscoring strong “big money” interest. [16]
- The article notes that Caterpillar’s Q3 EPS of $4.95 beat the consensus estimate of $4.52, with revenue of $17.64 billion vs. $16.72 billion expected. [17]
- Caterpillar continues to return capital to shareholders: the current quarterly dividend is $1.51 per share (or $6.04 annually, about 1.1% yield) after the latest raise. [18]
At the same time, there has been notable insider selling—QuiverQuant tracks 21 insider sales vs. just 1 purchase in the last six months—even as at least one director (David Maclennan) recently bought shares on the open market. [19]
4. Macroeconomic tailwind: equipment financing still strong
A new Reuters report on November 24 notes that U.S. business borrowing for equipment rose 5.7% year‑over‑year in October, with total volume of $10.5 billion according to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA). [20]
The survey specifically mentions that the index includes the financing arms of Caterpillar, Dell, Siemens, Canon and Volvo, and that 2025 is on track to be the second‑strongest year for equipment demand since the survey began in 2006. [21]
For Caterpillar, solid demand for equipment financing supports:
- Ongoing sales of heavy machinery and power systems
- Healthy business at Cat Financial, its financing subsidiary
This macro backdrop helps explain why Caterpillar has been able to grow sales despite tariffs and a mixed global growth picture.
Fundamentals: what Q3 2025 told investors about CAT
Caterpillar’s latest reported quarter is Q3 2025, released on October 29.
From the company’s official results: [22]
- Sales and revenues:$17.6 billion, +10% year‑over‑year
- Profit per share (GAAP):$4.88 vs. $5.06 a year ago
- Adjusted profit per share:$4.95 vs. $5.17 in Q3 2024
- Operating profit margin:17.3% (17.5% adjusted), down from 19.5% (20.0% adjusted) a year earlier
- Operating cash flow:$3.7 billion in Q3
- Enterprise cash:$7.5 billion at quarter‑end
- Capital returned to shareholders in Q3:$1.1 billion
- ~$0.7 billion in dividends
- ~$0.4 billion in share repurchases
The Q3 release and subsequent commentary also highlighted: [23]
- Tariffs: New tariffs introduced earlier in 2025 are a significant headwind, with management citing hundreds of millions of dollars in tariff‑related impacts to the Energy & Transportation segment.
- Despite that headwind, sales increased across all three primary segments: Construction Industries, Resource Industries, and Energy & Transportation.
- Management emphasized a “growing backlog” and resilient demand as key supports for the outlook.
This combination—solid top‑line growth, strong cash generation and shareholder returns, but compressing margins—helps explain why some analysts are bullish on the long‑term story while calling the stock “expensive” on near‑term earnings.
Valuation: CAT trades at a premium after its 2025 surge
With the stock around $560, key valuation metrics look elevated versus historical norms:
- Trailing P/E: about 28.7x earnings
- Forward P/E: around 27x
- Dividend yield: roughly 1.1% on a $6.04 annual dividend
- Beta: about 1.56, implying higher volatility than the overall market [24]
A separate analysis notes that the forward P/E multiple near 29 is at its highest level in the past three years, reflecting investor willingness to pay up for the AI‑infrastructure angle and Caterpillar’s strong execution. [25]
Long‑term investors have been well rewarded: according to a Zacks analysis, a $1,000 investment in Caterpillar made in November 2015 would be worth about $7,737 (a 673.73% gain) as of November 24, 2025, excluding dividends. [26]
That kind of historical performance, alongside the 2025 rally, raises the bar for future returns.
What Wall Street is saying about Caterpillar stock now
Analysts have steadily raised their expectations for CAT over the past few weeks.
Consensus rating and price target
- Consensus rating:“Moderate Buy”
- Analyst breakdown (last 12 months):
- 3 Strong Buy
- 16 Buy
- 5 Hold
- 1 Sell [27]
- Average 12‑month target price:$610.32
- Implied ~9% upside from around $560
- High target:$730
- Low target:$380 [28]
QuiverQuant’s aggregation of recent reports shows a median price target around $564.50, with some of the most aggressive calls including: [29]
- Wells Fargo: $675 (Overweight, November 14, 2025)
- HSBC: $660 (upgraded to Buy/Strong Buy, November 5–6) [30]
- Citigroup: $670
- JPMorgan: $730, the current Street high
MarketBeat’s latest summary similarly pegs the consensus target at about $610, confirming that most analysts still see room for upside even after the 2025 rally. [31]
Bullish talking points
From recent analyst notes and commentary summarized by MarketBeat and others: [32]
- AI and data centers: Rapid growth in power‑generation equipment for data centers and AI workloads is driving backlog and providing a multi‑year demand story.
- Infrastructure and energy spending: Global infrastructure programs, grid modernization and energy‑transition projects are structural tailwinds.
- Strong cash generation: High operating cash flow allows for dividends, buybacks and investment in capacity and digitization.
- Quality franchise: A nearly century‑old brand, global distribution network and aftermarket parts and service make Caterpillar a high‑moat industrial.
Bearish & cautious arguments
Analysts and data providers also flag important risks: [33]
- Valuation: With a high‑20s P/E, the stock is priced for continued strong growth; any disappointment in AI‑related orders or margins could trigger a pullback.
- Tariffs and costs: New tariffs are already pressuring margins and could worsen if trade tensions escalate.
- Cyclicality: Despite the AI story, Caterpillar is still exposed to construction, mining and energy cycles, which are vulnerable to higher rates or weaker global growth.
- Leverage and beta: A debt‑to‑equity ratio above 1.3 and a beta around 1.5 mean CAT may fall harder than the market in risk‑off periods. [34]
- Insider selling: Net insider activity over the last six months has been heavily skewed toward selling, which some investors interpret as a yellow flag.
How today fits into the bigger picture for CAT
Putting it all together:
- Near‑term:
- Medium term (next 12 months):
- The Street consensus suggests mid‑single‑digit to high‑single‑digit upside from current levels, but with a wide range of possible outcomes depending on AI‑related power demand and the global economy. [37]
- Long term:
- If AI data center build‑outs, infrastructure programs and energy‑transition projects continue at scale, Caterpillar’s backlog and Energy & Transportation growth could justify the current premium valuation. [38]
- However, any slowdown in capital expenditures, reversal in tariffs, or downturn in construction and mining could compress earnings and multiples.
Key things for investors to watch after November 25, 2025
For readers following CAT stock in coming weeks, the most important signals to monitor include:
- New AI/data center contracts and partnerships
- Updates following the Vertiv collaboration or similar deals that expand Caterpillar’s footprint in large‑scale power solutions. [39]
- Backlog and margin commentary
- Any interim guidance or investor presentations that comment on the size, quality and duration of Caterpillar’s $39+ billion backlog, and whether tariff impacts are stabilizing. [40]
- Macro data for construction and equipment financing
- ELFA equipment‑finance data, housing starts, PMI readings and infrastructure spending plans, which directly affect demand for CAT’s core products. [41]
- Analyst rating or target changes
- After a big run‑up and rich valuation, downgrades or target cuts could matter more than fresh upgrades. MarketBeat and QuiverQuant show that one major bank already carries an Underweight/Sell view. [42]
- Insider and institutional flows
- Whether the recent pattern of heavy insider selling continues, and whether large funds keep increasing stakes or start taking profits. [43]
Disclaimer: This article is for information and news purposes only and does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Always conduct your own research or consult a licensed financial adviser before making investment decisions.
References
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