Caterpillar reported $49.4B of remaining performance obligations at 30 Sep 2026, up 120% from a year earlier and up 12% from the previous quarter. That is 0.6 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.26.
Net new backlog added in the latest quarter: $5.30B.
Over the last twelve months it turned about 245% of its opening backlog into revenue (12-month conversion).
33% of the backlog is due within the next twelve months.
Customer prepayments (contract liabilities) cover 17.6% of the backlog.
Twelve-month book-to-bill: 1.35, i.e. 1.35 of new orders for every 1 of revenue recognised.
Backlog growth minus revenue growth: +99 points — orders are running ahead of revenue.
By backlog size it ranks 20th among US filers the cockpit tracks.
Caterpillar backlog history
Remaining performance obligations at each quarter end (bars) against trailing twelve-month revenue (line).
Amounts in USD. Source: SEC XBRL filings.
Quarter end
Backlog (RPO)
TTM revenue
Coverage
Customer prepayments
30 Sep 2026
$49.4B
$77.8B
0.6 yrs
$8.71B
30 Jun 2026
$44.1B
$74.7B
0.6 yrs
$7.28B
31 Mar 2026
$37.1B
$70.8B
0.5 yrs
$6.03B
31 Dec 2025
$30.1B
$67.6B
0.4 yrs
$4.68B
30 Sep 2025
$22.5B
$64.7B
0.3 yrs
$4.42B
30 Jun 2025
$19.7B
$63.1B
0.3 yrs
$4.04B
31 Mar 2025
$17.6B
$63.3B
0.3 yrs
$3.46B
31 Dec 2024
$15.2B
$64.8B
0.2 yrs
$2.75B
30 Sep 2024
$14.1B
$65.7B
0.2 yrs
$2.87B
30 Jun 2024
$13.4B
$66.4B
0.2 yrs
$2.73B
31 Mar 2024
$12.5B
$67.0B
0.2 yrs
$2.66B
31 Dec 2023
$12.5B
$67.1B
0.2 yrs
$2.39B
Questions
What is Caterpillar's backlog?
Caterpillar reported $49.4B of remaining performance obligations at 30 Sep 2026, up 120% from a year earlier and up 12% from the previous quarter. That is 0.6 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.26.
How fast does Caterpillar's backlog turn into revenue?
Over the last twelve months Caterpillar recognised revenue equal to about 245% of the backlog it started each quarter with.
About these numbers
Remaining performance obligations (RPO) are revenue a company has contracted but not yet recognised, as reported in its SEC filings (XBRL tag RevenueRemainingPerformanceObligation). Coverage = backlog ÷ trailing twelve-month revenue. Book-to-bill = (change in backlog + revenue) ÷ revenue. Conversion = revenue recognised ÷ the backlog at the start of each quarter, summed over four quarters. Counterparty values come from company filings and releases.