Caterpillar and Terex are both industrial manufacturers, but they are not close substitutes: Caterpillar sells across construction, mining, power and energy markets, while Terex specializes in equipment and services for materials processing, waste and recycling, aerial access and electric utilities. Caterpillar reported $67.589 billion in 2025 sales and revenues; Terex reported $5.4 billion in 2025 net sales. Those figures show a large difference in scale, not which company is safer, better run or more attractive to investors.
The comparison also needs a date caveat. Terex’s fiscal 2025 results include a portfolio change, and its merger with REV Group closed in February 2026. The companies’ reporting measures and segment boundaries differ, so the most useful comparison is about business exposure, year-over-year trends and disclosed risks—not a simple ranking.
What each company sells
Caterpillar: equipment, engines and financing
Caterpillar describes itself as a manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural-gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. Its primary machinery and energy segments are Construction Industries, Resource Industries, and Power & Energy. Financial Products provides financing and related services alongside those businesses.
The portfolio therefore reaches construction, mining and energy markets, as well as customers who use Caterpillar equipment and services. Caterpillar also identifies its independent global dealer network as a key part of its business profile. That is a company-described distribution and support system, not a quantified measure of service quality relative to Terex.
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Terex: specialized equipment and solutions
Terex focuses on materials processing machinery, waste and recycling solutions, mobile elevating work platforms, and equipment for the electric utility industry. It also provides parts and service support and digital solutions. For reporting periods beginning January 1, 2025, its reportable segments were Environmental Solutions (ES), Material Processing (MP) and Aerials. Terex moved Utilities into ES and retrospectively adjusted its prior presentation.
The companies overlap in serving industrial and infrastructure-related customers, but their portfolios are not organized around identical products or end markets. Caterpillar’s mining, power and energy exposure has no direct one-to-one equivalent in Terex’s three reported segments; Terex’s waste and recycling focus is likewise not a matching Caterpillar segment.
What their 2025 results show
The figures below are issuer-reported for fiscal 2025. They are useful context, but do not make the companies’ reporting bases interchangeable.
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| Measure | Caterpillar | Terex |
|---|---|---|
| Reported full-year sales measure | $67.589 billion in sales and revenues; up 4% from 2024 (Caterpillar Inc., 2026 Form 10-K). | $5.4 billion in net sales; up 5.7% from 2024 (Terex Corporation, 2026 full-year results release). |
| Operating profitability disclosed here | Operating profit was 16.5% of sales and revenues in 2025, versus 20.2% in 2024. Caterpillar’s adjusted operating profit margin, a company-defined non-GAAP measure, was 17.2%, versus 20.7% in 2024. | Adjusted operating profit was $566 million, or 10.4% of net sales, versus 11.3% in 2024. Adjusted operating profit is a non-GAAP measure. |
| Cash measure disclosed here | $11.7 billion in enterprise operating cash flow in 2025; year-end enterprise cash was $10.0 billion. | $325 million in free cash flow in 2025. |
Sales and revenues at Caterpillar and net sales at Terex are each the issuer’s own reported measure. The cash figures are also different measures, so they should not be treated as a like-for-like cash-flow comparison without examining the companies’ definitions. The adjusted profitability figures are non-GAAP and should be kept distinct from GAAP operating profit.
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Terex’s growth was affected by its changing portfolio
Terex said its reported 5.7% net-sales increase was primarily because the addition of Environmental Solutions Group (ESG) offset declines in Aerials and MP. Excluding ESG, legacy revenue decreased 11.0%. That distinction matters: the reported increase does not by itself indicate that demand grew across Terex’s existing businesses.
Terex reported 2025 ES sales of $1.7 billion, up 12.7% on a pro forma basis; MP sales of $1.7 billion, down 11.6%; and Aerials sales of $2.1 billion, down 14.5%. The ES comparison is explicitly pro forma, and the company’s segment presentation and portfolio changes affect comparability. Segment labels and boundaries are not equivalent to Caterpillar’s.
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How to compare the businesses beyond revenue
A sound comparison starts with what drives each company’s results, then checks whether the evidence is measured on a consistent basis. A practical review can use these steps:
- Map end-market exposure. Identify which customer markets—such as construction, mining, energy, materials processing, aerial access, utilities, or recycling—matter to each company. Do not assume the same industrial-cycle exposure just because both make equipment.
- Read segment trends within each company. Compare each segment with its own prior period and examine the disclosed drivers. Do not equate Caterpillar’s segment boundaries with Terex’s ES, MP and Aerials reporting structure.
- Separate reported growth from portfolio effects. For Terex’s 2025 figures, distinguish the reported result, legacy revenue excluding ESG, and pro forma segment comparisons. For either company, check whether acquisitions, divestitures or reclassifications affect the comparison.
- Keep profit measures consistent. Distinguish GAAP operating profit from adjusted operating profit. If comparing adjusted figures, review each company’s definition and adjustments rather than assuming the same calculation.
- Check cash-flow definitions. Caterpillar’s enterprise operating cash flow and Terex’s free cash flow are not the same label. Read the issuer’s definition and reconciliation before using them to judge cash generation side by side.
- Assess distribution and lifecycle support. Caterpillar identifies its independent global dealer network and Cat Financial; Terex describes parts and service support and digital solutions. These are relevant business features, but the available descriptions do not establish a head-to-head measure of service reach or quality.
- Review exposure and assumptions. Compare geographic and tariff exposure, input costs, supply chains, foreign exchange, regulation, technology and cybersecurity disclosures. For any outlook, separate management’s assumptions from results already achieved.
What risks Caterpillar discloses
Caterpillar’s 2025 Form 10-K discusses risks involving market and economic conditions, demand across its end markets, competition, execution and manufacturing, supply chains, regulation, foreign currency, and information-technology security. Its filing specifically warns that cybersecurity threats may affect systems, networks, products and services. The filing’s Item 1A provides the company’s full risk-factor wording.
For a business with construction, mining, power and energy exposure, demand conditions across those markets are important to examine alongside operating execution and supply-chain risks. The filing’s inclusion of a risk describes an exposure; it does not predict that the event will occur.
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What risks Terex discloses
Terex’s 2025 Form 10-K discusses risks tied to the cyclical markets it serves, economic conditions, trade policy and tariffs, input costs and supply chains, foreign currency, integration and portfolio management, and execution. It also describes uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes to differ materially from forward-looking statements.
The annual report covers the year ended December 31, 2025 and generally speaks as of that date. Terex’s merger with REV Group closed in February 2026, after that fiscal year-end, so the annual report’s risk discussion should not be mistaken for a complete description of post-merger conditions.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to read Terex’s post-merger outlook
Terex’s 2026 outlook in its full-year results release assumes 11 months of the new Specialty Vehicle segment, approximately $28 million of realized synergies in 2026, and tariff rates remaining at the levels in effect when guidance was issued. These are forward-looking company assumptions, not established results. They also describe a different portfolio and time frame from Terex’s 2025 historical results.
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Does Caterpillar’s larger scale make it less risky?
Not on its own. Caterpillar’s 2025 reported sales and revenues were substantially larger than Terex’s net sales, but revenue scale does not establish lower cyclicality, stronger growth quality, better execution, superior valuation or suitability for a particular investor. The companies serve different end markets and disclose different risk exposures. A relative-risk judgment would need a defined basis—for example, segment concentration, margin trends, balance-sheet measures, geographic exposure or sensitivity to specific market conditions—and comparable data for that basis.
Neither a shorter risk-factor list nor a single year of sales or margin figures is enough to call one company “safer.” Risk factors are disclosures of potential exposure, not probability rankings. This business comparison is not personalized investment advice.
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