Real Reshoring: Q3 Earnings Reveal US Manufacturing Trends

Earnings seasons are a valuable source of information for investors. It isn’t just about short term performance, company management teams often discuss how major trends, like reshoring and US manufacturing, are re-shaping their businesses. These clues are important for us to assess whether our company’s financials are transforming as the megatrend unfolds.

Here are reflections on 5 companies from the Q3 2025 earnings season.

Cognex

What they do: Cognex provides automation/machine vision for industries such as logistics and consumer electronics. 

Source: Q3 Cognex Investor Presentation (October 2025)

View from latest earnings calls: 

“Yeah, we're very pleased with the performance of our consumer electronics business this year. And as we said in the comments, it being a growth year for us in consumer after several years of a down cycle. And so where is that coming from? I think you hinted at a few of them. I was actually in Asia, in India a few weeks ago observing some of the shifts in manufacturing from Mainland China, working with a lot of the machine builders that underpin this industry. And, yeah, I would say there is quite a bit of activities that we're participating in as supply chains diversify in this market.” 

Matt Moschner, CEO of Cognex, Q3 Earnings Call 

Applied Industrial Technologies

What they do: Applied Industrial Technologies is a leading US industrial distributors of fluid power, flow control, and automation equipment used for all types of industrial processes.

Source: Q3 Applied Industrial Tech Investor Presentation (October 2025)

View from latest earnings calls:

“In addition, qualitative data points around planned investments in North American manufacturing infrastructure and onshoring continue to broaden, while our customer service requirements are growing as they face technical labor shortages and an aged equipment base. We are well-positioned to capitalize on these trends given our domain knowledge and scale across industrial facilities' core capital equipment 

…In addition, we have a leading channel position in providing advanced robotics, machine vision, and high-tech fluid power systems. Combined with our network of service shops, technicians, and engineers, we're positioning our strategy and teams to play an increasingly critical role in linking legacy industrial production infrastructure and processes with new advanced applications and technologies both now and into the future.” 

Niel A. Schrimsher, CEO of Applied Industrial Tech, Q3 Earnings Call 

Timken

What they do: Timken is a producer of engineered bearings and motion control solutions that allow industrial processes to function more efficiently.

Source: Q3 Timken Investor Presentation (October 2025) 

View from latest earnings calls:  

“The company has operating discipline across its manufacturing footprint, generates significant cash flow, and has a solid balance sheet. With a strong foundation, I see many opportunities to improve top-line and also bottom-line performance … I also believe there's an opportunity to raise Timken's organic growth algorithm by expanding our market focus in fast-growing regions and verticals and launching new products and services.” 

Lucian Boldea, CEO, Q3 Earnings Call  

Caterpillar

What they do: Caterpillar manufactures construction and mining equipment as well diesel and gas engines and turbines.

Source: Caterpillar Investor Day November 2025  

View from latest earnings calls:  

“So how are we raising the bar moving forward? Well, the first thing we're going to do is based on the great momentum we have in the business, the backlog we have, the tremendous opportunities, we see due to the trends in all the industries we serve, and the confidence we have in our growth strategy that you're going to hear from our team later today, we're adding a metric. 

From 2024 through 2030, we're targeting to grow our top line at a CAGR of 5% to 7%. That's an increase from what we've delivered from the time period of 2019 to 2024, which was 4%. We have great momentum in the business. And so, we feel like it's time to put this metric out. Our teams are going to show you as we move throughout today, how we plan to achieve that CAGR.” 

Joseph Creed, CEO, 2025 Investor Day 

Eaton

What they do: Eaton is a leading power management company working across electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power applications.

Source: Eaton Q3 Investor Presentation (October 2025)  

View from latest earnings calls:  

“The visibility is unprecedented, so let me walk you through what we are seeing. Over the last two years, the mega project announcements have increased a staggering 185%. In the same timeframe, our negotiations pipeline have increased 35% following into rolling 12-month orders up 23% on a two-year stack and a book-to-bill of 1.1”. 

Paulo Ruiz, CEO of Eaton Corp, Q3 Earnings Call 

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Disclosures

For the fund's current holdings, visit the RSHO fund page.