In the latest close session, Caterpillar (CAT) was down 2.04% at $914.30. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.38% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.29%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.62%.
The construction equipment company's stock has dropped by 1.28% in the past month, falling short of the Industrial Products sector's gain of 0.99% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.61%.
The upcoming earnings release of Caterpillar will be of great interest to investors. In that report, analysts expect Caterpillar to post earnings of $6.25 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 32.42%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $19.31 billion, showing a 16.56% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $24.85 per share and a revenue of $77.08 billion, representing changes of +30.38% and +14.04%, respectively, from the prior 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, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.91% higher within the past month. Caterpillar is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Caterpillar is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 37.57. This represents a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 15.41.
Also, we should mention that CAT has a PEG ratio of 1.83. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.62 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 185, placing it within the bottom 25% of over 250 industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. 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.
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Caterpillar Inc. (CAT): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).