Caterpillar Inc

Caterpillar delivered a mixed second quarter, posting adjusted earnings per share of $4.72 against a consensus estimate of $4.90, a miss of 3.73%, even as revenue of $16.57 billion edged past expectations by 1.88%. Total sales slipped 0.7% year-over-year, a modest headline decline that obscured a far more consequential margin story underneath. The primary culprit was tariffs, which the company now expects to weigh on full-year results by $1.30 billion to $1.50 billion, with roughly $350 million of that impact landing in the quarter alone. The tariff burden, combined with $414 million in unfavorable price realization, compressed operating profit margin to 17.3% from 20.9% a year ago, representing one of the sharpest quarterly contractions in recent memory. The pain was not evenly distributed across segments; Energy and Transportation proved a genuine bright spot, growing sales 7% to $7.84 billion on the back of a 28% surge in Power Generation tied to data center demand, while Construction Industries fell 7% to $6.19 billion amid dealer destocking and weaker North American pricing.