What if you invested in Caterpillar in 2010?
CAT · Industrial · Data through 2026-06-01
If you invested $1,000 in Caterpillar in 2010
The same $1,000 in the S&P 500 would be worth $9,294(+829.4%)
The S&P 500 returned $9,294 on the same $1,000. Caterpillar beat the market by $21,212.
Try a different start date
Pick any month and year to see what Caterpillar would be worth.
Compare Caterpillar to another stock
See how Caterpillar stacks up since 2010, head to head.
What if Caterpillar keeps this up?
Project forward at Caterpillar's 22.9% historical growth rate. See 5-30 year scenarios.
Growth of $1,000
Caterpillar vs. S&P 500 vs. US Dollar, 2010 to present
Year-by-Year Returns
$1,000 invested in Caterpillar starting January 2010
| Year | Price | Value | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | $34.91 | $1,000 | - |
| 2011 | $66.48 | $1,904 | +90.4% |
| 2012 | $76.18 | $2,182 | +14.6% |
| 2013 | $70.55 | $2,021 | -7.4% |
| 2014 | $68.72 | $1,969 | -2.6% |
| 2015 | $60.08 | $1,721 | -12.6% |
| 2016 | $48.51 | $1,390 | -19.3% |
| 2017 | $77.64 | $2,224 | +60.1% |
| 2018 | $136.09 | $3,899 | +75.3% |
| 2019 | $113.82 | $3,261 | -16.4% |
| 2020 | $115.45 | $3,307 | +1.4% |
| 2021 | $165.55 | $4,743 | +43.4% |
| 2022 | $186.32 | $5,337 | +12.5% |
| 2023 | $238.69 | $6,838 | +28.1% |
| 2024 | $289.94 | $8,306 | +21.5% |
| 2025 | $364.37 | $10,438 | +25.7% |
| 2026 | $654.58 | $18,752 | +79.6% |
What this return means
A $1,000 position in Caterpillar (CAT) opened in 2010 is worth $30,506 today. That works out to +2950.6%, about 31x the original stake, as of 2026-06-01.
In compound terms that is roughly 22.9% a year, well above what a broad index has historically returned. The same $1,000 in an S&P 500 index fund over the same span would be about $9,294, so Caterpillar beat the index by roughly $21,212. The index compounded at about 14.4% a year over that period.
The path was not smooth. The best single year was 2011 at +90.4%, and the worst was 2016 at -19.3%. At its lowest point the position was down about 36% from an earlier high. These figures use split-adjusted closing prices and exclude dividends, taxes, trading fees, and inflation, so a real after-tax result would differ.
Treat this as history rather than advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
What if you invested $100 a month instead?
Most people do not drop a lump sum in on day one. They add a fixed amount every month. Putting $100 into Caterpillar at the close of every month from January 2010 through June 2026 means 198 buys and $19,800 contributed over about 16.5 years.
$100/month, dollar-cost averaged
$218,594
+1,004.0% on $19,800 in
Same $19,800, all in at the start
$603,982
+2,950.4% on $19,800 in
Going all in at the start beat spreading the buys out by $385,388. That is the usual result when a stock trends up: each monthly buy pays a higher price than the last, so the average cost climbs. Averaging in also meant an average buy price of $96.46 per share across the whole stretch, so the monthly buyer never had to time a single low. Neither number counts dividends, taxes, or trading costs.
Illustrative fixed $100/month example, not a recommendation. Figures are computed from CAT split-adjusted monthly closes through June 2026. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
Caterpillar at different times
See how the start year changes the outcome
More Industrial investments
Compare returns across the sector
Numbers worth sharing
Occasional data drops when something interesting surfaces. No schedule, just signal.
For informational and educational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All calculations are based on split-adjusted closing prices from Yahoo Finance and do not account for dividends, taxes, or trading fees. See our methodology and full disclaimer.