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Caterpillar (CAT) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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In the latest trading session, Caterpillar (CAT - Free Report) closed at $273.06, marking a +0.38% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.23% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.31%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.09%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the construction equipment company had gained 1.01% over the past month. This has outpaced the Industrial Products sector's loss of 5.02% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.43% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Caterpillar as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Caterpillar is projected to report earnings of $4.64 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 17.47%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $16.39 billion, up 9.3% from the year-ago period.

CAT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $19.82 per share and revenue of $66.92 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +43.21% and +12.62%, respectively.

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

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.04% higher. Caterpillar is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Looking at its valuation, Caterpillar is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 13.73. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 10.04.

Also, we should mention that CAT has a PEG ratio of 1.14. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 0.97 as of yesterday's close.

The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 3, putting it in the top 2% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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