Caterpillar (CAT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Caterpillar (CAT) closed at $188.94, marking a -0.52% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.3%.
Coming into today, shares of the construction equipment company had lost 6.13% in the past month. In that same time, the Industrial Products sector lost 6.25%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.37%.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from CAT as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 28, 2021. On that day, CAT is projected to report earnings of $2.29 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 70.9%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $12.57 billion, up 27.21% from the prior-year quarter.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $10.16 per share and revenue of $50.59 billion. These totals would mark changes of +54.88% and +21.17%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for CAT. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.29% higher. CAT is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Investors should also note CAT's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 18.7. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 21.13.
Investors should also note that CAT has a PEG ratio of 1.56 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.15 as of yesterday's close.
The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 232, which puts it in the bottom 9% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within 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 follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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