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Caterpillar (LIM:CAT) Interest Coverage : 22.23 (As of Mar. 2025)


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What is Caterpillar Interest Coverage?

Interest Coverage is a ratio that determines how easily a company can pay interest expenses on outstanding debt. It is calculated by dividing a company's Operating Income by its Interest Expense. Caterpillar's Operating Income for the three months ended in Mar. 2025 was $2,579 Mil. Caterpillar's Interest Expense for the three months ended in Mar. 2025 was $-116 Mil. Caterpillar's interest coverage for the quarter that ended in Mar. 2025 was 22.23. The higher the ratio, the stronger the company's financial strength is.

The historical rank and industry rank for Caterpillar's Interest Coverage or its related term are showing as below:

LIM:CAT' s Interest Coverage Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: 3.48   Med: 16.89   Max: 25.53
Current: 25.01


LIM:CAT's Interest Coverage is ranked better than
71.43% of 168 companies
in the Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery industry
Industry Median: 9.72 vs LIM:CAT: 25.01

Note: If both Interest Expense and Interest Income are empty, while Net Interest Income is negative, then use Net Interest Income as Interest Expense.


Caterpillar Interest Coverage Historical Data

The historical data trend for Caterpillar's Interest Coverage can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

Note: For Interest Coverage, "No debt" indicates no long-term debt. An indication of "No Debt" does not necessarily mean that the company has no long-term debt obligations; it could be due to missing data in the quarterly or annual report. Use caution when interpreting this information.

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Caterpillar Interest Coverage Chart

Caterpillar Annual Data
Trend Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23 Dec24
Interest Coverage
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 8.86 14.09 19.93 25.37 25.53

Caterpillar Quarterly Data
Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23 Mar24 Jun24 Sep24 Dec24 Mar25
Interest Coverage Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 24.61 25.42 25.18 27.33 22.23

Competitive Comparison of Caterpillar's Interest Coverage

For the Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery subindustry, Caterpillar's Interest Coverage, along with its competitors' market caps and Interest Coverage data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Caterpillar's Interest Coverage Distribution in the Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery Industry

For the Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery industry and Industrials sector, Caterpillar's Interest Coverage distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Caterpillar's Interest Coverage falls into.


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Caterpillar Interest Coverage Calculation

Interest Coverage is a ratio that determines how easily a company can pay interest expenses on outstanding debt. It is calculated by dividing a company's Operating Income (EBIT) by its Interest Expense:

If Interest Expense is negative and Operating Income is positive, then

Interest Coverage=-1* Operating Income /Interest Expense

Else if Interest Expense is negative and Operating Income is negative, then

The company did not have earnings to cover the interest expense.

Else if Interest Expense is 0 and Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation is 0, then

The company had no debt (1).


Note: If both Interest Expense and Interest Income are empty, while Net Interest Income is negative, then use Net Interest Income as Interest Expense.

Caterpillar's Interest Coverage for the fiscal year that ended in Dec. 2024 is calculated as

Here, for the fiscal year that ended in Dec. 2024, Caterpillar's Interest Expense was $-512 Mil. Its Operating Income was $13,072 Mil. And its Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $27,351 Mil.

Interest Coverage=-1* Operating Income (A: Dec. 2024 )/Interest Expense (A: Dec. 2024 )
=-1*13072/-512
=25.53

Caterpillar's Interest Coverage for the quarter that ended in Mar. 2025 is calculated as

Here, for the three months ended in Mar. 2025, Caterpillar's Interest Expense was $-116 Mil. Its Operating Income was $2,579 Mil. And its Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $25,819 Mil.

Interest Coverage=-1* Operating Income (Q: Mar. 2025 )/Interest Expense (Q: Mar. 2025 )
=-1*2579/-116
=22.23

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

The higher the ratio, the stronger the company's Financial Strength is.


Caterpillar  (LIM:CAT) Interest Coverage Explanation

Ben Graham requires that a company has a minimum interest coverage of 5 with the companies he invested. If the interest coverage is less than 2, the company is burdened by debt. Any business slow or recession may drag the company into a situation where it cannot pay the interest on its debt.

Interest Coverage is an important factor when GuruFocus ranks a company's overage Financial Strength .


Caterpillar Interest Coverage Related Terms

Thank you for viewing the detailed overview of Caterpillar's Interest Coverage provided by GuruFocus.com. Please click on the following links to see related term pages.


Caterpillar Business Description

Address
5205 N. O\'Connor Boulevard, Suite 100, Irving, TX, USA, 75039
Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. Its reporting segments are: construction industries (40% sales/47% operating profit, or OP), resource industries (20% sales/19% OP), and energy & transportation (40% sales/34% OP). Market share approaches 20% across many products. Caterpillar operates a captive finance subsidiary to facilitate sales. The firm has global reach (46% US sales/54% ex-US). Construction skews more domestic, while the other divisions are more geographically diversified. An independent network of 156 dealers operates approximately 2,800 facilities, giving Caterpillar reach into about 190 countries for sales and support services.