Profit Per Share

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

Earnings Per Share Reconciliation [Abstract]

Profit per share



Computations of profit per share:	Three Months Ended September 30,				Nine Months Ended September 30,
(Dollars in millions except per share data)	2023		2022		2023		2022
Profit for the period (A) 1	$	2,794	$	2,041	$	7,659	$	5,251
Determination of shares (in millions):
Weighted-average number of common shares outstanding (B)	509.8		525.0		513.0		530.1
Shares issuable on exercise of stock awards, net of shares assumed to be purchased out of proceeds at average market price	2.8		2.6		2.7		3.1
Average common shares outstanding for fully diluted computation (C) 2	512.6		527.6		515.7		533.2
Profit per share of common stock:
Assuming no dilution (A/B)	$	5.48	$	3.89	$	14.93	$	9.91
Assuming full dilution (A/C) 2	$	5.45	$	3.87	$	14.85	$	9.85
Shares outstanding as of September 30, (in millions)					509.1		520.4

1 Profit attributable to common shareholders.
2 Diluted by assumed exercise of stock-based compensation awards using the treasury stock method.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, we excluded 0.8 million and 2.1 million of outstanding stock options, respectively, from the computation of diluted earnings per share because the effect would have been antidilutive.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, we repurchased 1.9 million and 9.5 million shares of Caterpillar common stock, respectively, at an aggregate cost of $0.5 billion and $2.2 billion, respectively. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, we repurchased 7.6 million and 17.0 million shares of Caterpillar common stock, respectively, at an aggregate cost of $1.4 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively. We made these purchases through the combination of accelerated stock repurchase agreements with a third-party financial institution and open market transactions in 2023 and 2022.