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Caterpillar (CAT) Stock Moves -1.21%: What You Should Know

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Caterpillar (CAT - Free Report) closed at $279.15 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.21% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.22%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.83%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.56%.

Coming into today, shares of the construction equipment company had gained 2.69% in the past month. In that same time, the Industrial Products sector lost 1.77%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.54%.

Caterpillar will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Caterpillar to post earnings of $4.64 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 17.47%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $16.3 billion, up 8.72% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $19.82 per share and revenue of $66.51 billion. These totals would mark changes of +43.21% and +11.92%, respectively, from last year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Caterpillar should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.04% higher within the past month. Caterpillar currently has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Caterpillar has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.26 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.08, which means Caterpillar is trading at a premium to the group.

Meanwhile, CAT's PEG ratio is currently 1.19. 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. CAT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.06 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 5, which puts it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order 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 follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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