Earnings quality
Compare earnings and operating cash flow for earnings quality.
Caterpillar Inc.
Ticker CAT · 🇺🇸 United States · Consolidated US GAAP · amounts in dollars
Filed 2026-02-13 · Period end 2017-12-31
Takeaway
Worth trackingSales and operating profit both moved in a healthier direction.
operating margin is 91.4%.
Sales and operating profit moved together — keep watching margins and whether the trend persists next period.
ActionWorth tracking
OP margin91.4%
Equity ratio—
Last price—
Trailing P/E—
Look at next
- Compare operating cash flow to reported profit across the last two years.
- Open English IR for management commentary on outlook and capital allocation.
- Overlay peers on Compare before judging relative momentum.
About the company
CATERPILLAR INC is a US-listed company with consolidated financial statements filed on SEC EDGAR.
Compare trends
Tel 9728917700 · As of filing date 2026-02-13
Financial statements
Income statement
| Account | FY2017 (ended Sep 30, 2017) | FY2017 (ended Dec 31, 2017) |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $10.7B | $12.2B |
| Cost of sales* | $8.4B | $9.4B |
| Gross profit | $2.3B | $2.8B |
| Operating profit | $13.1B | $11.2B |
| Income tax | $2.6B | $2.8B |
| Net income | $792.0M | $968.0M |
| Basic EPS | 22.17 | 18.90 |
Balance sheet
| Account | FY2017 (ended Sep 30, 2017) | FY2017 (ended Dec 31, 2017) |
|---|---|---|
| Cash & equivalents | $6.9B | $10.0B |
| Current assets | $45.7B | $52.5B |
| Non-current assets* | $42.1B | $46.1B |
| Total assets | $87.8B | $98.6B |
| Current liabilities | $32.3B | $36.6B |
| Non-current liabilities* | $36.0B | $40.7B |
| Total liabilities | $68.3B | $77.3B |
| Stockholders’ equity | — | — |
Cash flow statement
| Account | FY2017 (ended Sep 30, 2017) | FY2017 (ended Dec 31, 2017) |
|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $12.0B | $11.7B |
| Investing cash flow | -$2.5B | -$4.7B |
| Financing cash flow | -$9.6B | -$3.9B |
| Cash at end of period | $6.9B | $10.0B |
Five-year trends
Key metrics
| Metric | Trend | FY2016 | FY2017 | FY2017 | FY2017 | FY2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $8.9B | $9.1B | $10.6B | $10.7B | $12.2B | |
| Operating profit | $1.2B | — | — | — | $4.5B | |
| Total assets | $74.7B | — | — | — | $77.0B |
How we read these numbers
From the notes
No material one-offs extracted from this filing.
Constructive
Sales and operating profit both moved in a healthier direction.
On the income statement, revenue moved from $10.7B to $12.2B (▲ +13.8%). Operating profit went from $13.1B to $11.2B (▼ -14.7%).
Operating cash flow was $11.7B (prior $12.0B), with cash on the balance sheet at $10.0B versus $6.9B.
Liquidity & leverage
Cash moved from $6.9B to $10.0B; current liabilities $36.6B.
Capital buffer
Stockholders’ equity moved from — to —.
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Source: SEC EDGAR 0000018230-26-000008
(CATERPILLAR INC), period end 2017-12-31.