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The latest trading session saw Caterpillar (CAT) ending at $374.89, denoting a +0.89% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock's performance was behind the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.83%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.45%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the construction equipment company had lost 1.13% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Industrial Products sector's loss of 4.59% and the S&P 500's loss of 3.31% in that time.
The upcoming earnings release of Caterpillar will be of great interest to investors. On that day, Caterpillar is projected to report earnings of $5 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 4.4%. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $16.65 billion, indicating a 2.44% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Caterpillar should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the company's business health and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.02% lower. Caterpillar currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
From a valuation perspective, Caterpillar is currently exchanging hands at a Forward P/E ratio of 17.02. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.06.
We can additionally observe that CAT currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.82. 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. As the market closed yesterday, the Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry was having an average PEG ratio of 4.67.
The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 190, this industry ranks in the bottom 25% of all industries, numbering over 250.