Caterpillar and Komatsu compete in construction and mining equipment, but their businesses are not interchangeable: Caterpillar has a substantial Power & Energy operation, while Komatsu includes industrial machinery beyond equipment and finance. Their reported results also cover different fiscal years and use different currencies. Those distinctions matter when comparing the companies’ earnings, risks, or stocks.
How Caterpillar and Komatsu make money
Both companies sell capital-intensive machinery to customers in construction, mining, infrastructure and industry. New equipment sales are only part of the business: parts, maintenance, services and financing can generate revenue over a machine’s working life. Those sources can soften the effect of a downturn in new-equipment demand, but they do not eliminate exposure to economic and industry cycles.
Caterpillar: equipment, power and a dealer-supported lifecycle
Caterpillar Inc. designs, manufactures and markets construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural-gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. Its 2025 reporting structure includes Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Power & Energy and Financial Products. Caterpillar reported $67.589 billion in sales and revenues for the year ended December 31, 2025, according to its 2025 Form 10-K.
Its large independent dealer network and Cat Financial support equipment sales and customer financing. After a sale, Caterpillar can also earn revenue from parts, repairs, services, rentals, Customer Value Agreements and digital tools such as condition monitoring. Caterpillar reported $24 billion in machinery, power and energy services revenue in 2025. That measure includes aftermarket parts and other service-related revenue, but excludes most Financial Products revenue, discontinued products and captive dealer services; it is not a measure directly comparable with a Komatsu disclosure in the figures discussed here.
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Caterpillar’s 2025 annual-report highlights describe more than 1.6 million connected and reporting assets. The company presents connected equipment, digital tools, lifecycle services and autonomy as elements of its customer offering. It also has a power-demand opportunity through engines, gas turbines and generator sets, including investments to expand large-engine capacity and gas-turbine production. Those initiatives are strategic bets, not guarantees of future demand, revenue or returns.
Komatsu: equipment, finance and industrial machinery
Komatsu Ltd. reports three segments: construction, mining and utility equipment; retail finance; and industrial machinery and others. The equipment segment overlaps most directly with Caterpillar, but Komatsu’s consolidated results also include businesses outside that overlap. Its industrial activity includes products such as large presses and semiconductor-related excimer-laser maintenance.
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Komatsu’s additional revenue sources include mining aftermarket parts and services, as well as interest income from retail finance. For FY2025—the year from April 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026—Komatsu reported net sales of JPY 4,132.8 billion, up 0.7% from the prior year. It reported operating income of JPY 567.3 billion, down 13.7%, and an operating-income ratio of 13.7%, down 2.3 percentage points. Komatsu attributed the profit pressure primarily to cost increases and lower sales volume in construction, mining and utility equipment; retail finance and industrial machinery and others recorded profit growth. These figures are in yen and cover a different reporting period from Caterpillar’s 2025 results.
What differs in their business models?
| Comparison point | Caterpillar | Komatsu | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting period | Year ended December 31, 2025 | FY2025 ended March 31, 2026 | The periods do not align, so calendar-year and fiscal-year totals are not a like-for-like snapshot. |
| Reporting perimeter | Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Power & Energy and Financial Products | Construction, mining and utility equipment; retail finance; industrial machinery and others | Consolidated sales include different mixes of equipment, finance and adjacent businesses. Caterpillar’s Resource Industries segment also began including rail on January 1, 2026. |
| Customer support and lifecycle revenue | Independent dealer network, Cat Financial, parts, services, rentals and digital tools | Equipment, retail finance, and mining aftermarket parts and services | Both seek revenue beyond initial equipment sales, but their disclosures and customer-support structures are not identical. |
| Distinctive adjacent exposure | Power & Energy, including engines, turbines and generator sets | Industrial machinery and others, including large presses and semiconductor-related excimer-laser maintenance | These are different forms of diversification and should not be treated as equivalent segments. |
| Reported scale and profitability | $67.589 billion in sales and revenues in 2025 | JPY 4,132.8 billion in net sales and a 13.7% operating-income ratio in FY2025 | Different currencies, periods and reported measures prevent a direct comparison of these figures alone. |
The segment descriptions and dates are based on Caterpillar’s 2025 Form 10-K and annual-report highlights, and Komatsu’s FY2025 results and investor reporting. Keep currencies separate unless using a stated exchange rate for a stated date. Even after conversion, consolidated revenue is not a measure of stock valuation or of the companies’ directly overlapping equipment businesses.
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Equipment makers depend on customers’ willingness and ability to invest in large assets. Lower utilization, delayed replacement purchases or weaker construction, mining, infrastructure and industrial activity can weigh on new-equipment demand. Financing businesses also make credit quality relevant: customer or dealer financial stress can affect lending results as well as equipment sales.
Other issues to examine in each company’s formal risk disclosures include input-cost pressure, trade barriers, foreign-exchange movements and geographic or customer concentration. Their effect may differ by business mix and period. The available results do not establish a quantified sensitivity that would support assigning either company a specific exposure or claiming one is safer.
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Komatsu’s reported pressure and outlook
Komatsu’s FY2025 results illustrate why sales growth does not necessarily mean profit growth: sales rose while operating income and its operating-income ratio declined. In its outlook for FY2026, the year ending March 31, 2027, Komatsu projects lower consolidated sales and profits. The company cited reduced demand in some regions affected by the Middle East situation, lower mining-equipment demand, rising costs including U.S. tariff effects, and higher fixed costs as relevant factors.
Komatsu also expects differences among segments. Its outlook anticipates higher retail-finance revenue but lower segment profit because of costs, and higher industrial-machinery sales but lower profit because of product mix and costs. These are Komatsu’s projections, not independent forecasts or reported FY2026 results.
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Caterpillar’s strategic exposure
Caterpillar’s 2025 highlights emphasize power demand, expansion of large-engine and gas-turbine capacity, lifecycle services, connected assets and autonomy. The company announced the G3500K natural-gas generator-set series in 2025 and described agreements with Hunt Energy Company and Vertiv for integrated on-site power solutions. These developments create potential growth avenues, but demand, margins and investment returns are not assured. Caterpillar’s 2025 Form 10-K identifies its competitive environment as a risk and names Komatsu among competing equipment makers.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to compare Caterpillar and Komatsu stock
Operating performance and stock performance answer different questions. A company can report stronger earnings while its shares lag, for example, if investors expected more or if its valuation changed. The reported figures above do not establish which stock is cheaper, has performed better, or is the better investment.
Caterpillar’s common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange in U.S. dollars under the symbol CAT. A direct share-price comparison with Komatsu requires specifying the Komatsu listing and the currency used for its share-price series. A cross-border return comparison should also state whether returns are measured in local currencies or converted into the investor’s base currency; exchange-rate changes can alter the result.
- Align the financial periods. Compare results covering similar dates where possible, and label each fiscal year end. Caterpillar’s 2025 year ended December 31, while Komatsu’s FY2025 ended March 31, 2026.
- Match the business perimeter. Use segment results to separate the closest equipment overlap from Caterpillar’s Power & Energy and Komatsu’s industrial machinery, as well as each company’s finance operations.
- Compare operating performance, not just sales. Review operating profit and margins alongside revenue, then consider cash generation and returns on capital when using consistently defined figures.
- Use a dated, consistent valuation measure. For a price-to-earnings or enterprise-value-based comparison, use the same measurement date and methodology, and identify the accounting period behind earnings.
- Measure shareholder returns over the same interval. State whether the comparison uses price-only returns or total returns that include reinvested dividends, and account for currency when comparing listings across countries.
- Reassess the risks behind the numbers. Consider demand cycles, customer and geographic mix, financing, costs, foreign exchange and the companies’ stated outlooks rather than assuming past results will continue.
No current share quote, valuation multiple, dividend yield or aligned share-return series is established by the company results summarized here. Those market figures change over time and need a common measurement date and clearly specified listing, currency and calculation before they can support a stock comparison.
Quick Recap
Sources for company results and business descriptions
- Caterpillar Inc., 2025 Form 10-K, for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed February 13, 2026.
- Caterpillar Inc., 2025 annual-report highlights, for services revenue, connected assets and Power & Energy developments.
- Komatsu Ltd., consolidated business results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, announced April 28, 2026.
- Komatsu Report investor materials and CFO message, for segment descriptions, aftermarket and finance context.
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