Caterpillar (CAT) Stock Moves -0.02%: What You Should Know

Caterpillar (CAT) closed at $128.38 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.02% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.14%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.11%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.1%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the construction equipment company had lost 2.54% over the past month. This has lagged the Industrial Products sector's loss of 2.34% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.91% in that time.

CAT will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release, which is expected to be October 23, 2019. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.83, down 1.05% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $13.42 billion, down 0.64% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $11.65 per share and revenue of $55.65 billion, which would represent changes of +3.83% and +1.69%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for CAT. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 1.06% lower. CAT is holding a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now.

Digging into valuation, CAT currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 11.03. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 10.48, so we one might conclude that CAT is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that CAT currently has a PEG ratio of 0.92. 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 was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.06 at yesterday's closing price.

The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 101, which puts it in the top 40% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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