Caterpillar (CAT) Rises Higher Than Market: Key Facts

In the latest trading session, Caterpillar (CAT) closed at $472.10, marking a +1.19% move from the previous day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.44%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.14%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.7%. The construction equipment company's shares have seen an increase of 7.09% over the last month, surpassing the Industrial Products sector's gain of 1.63% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.03%.Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Caterpillar in its upcoming earnings disclosure. On that day, Caterpillar is projected to report earnings of $4.56 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 11.8%. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $16.7 billion, indicating a 3.66% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $17.91 per share and a revenue of $64.76 billion, demonstrating changes of -18.22% and -0.07%, respectively, from the preceding year. It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Caterpillar. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook. Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system. The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.83% lower within the past month. Caterpillar is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. From a valuation perspective, Caterpillar is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 26.05. This denotes a premium relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 23.21. We can also see that CAT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.84. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry had an average PEG ratio of 5.04 as trading concluded yesterday. The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 224, which puts it in the bottom 10% of all 250+ industries. The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1. Be sure to use Zacks.com to monitor all these stock-influencing metrics, and more, throughout the forthcoming trading sessions. Free Report: 3 Software Stocks Poised to SkyrocketSoftware stocks are poised to catapult higher in the coming months (and years) thanks to several factors, especially the explosive growth of AI. Zacks' urgent report reveals 3 top software stocks to own right now.Access the report free today >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Caterpillar Inc. (CAT): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks