Caterpillar (CAT) Stock Moves -1.88%: What You Should Know

Caterpillar (CAT) closed at $144.38 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.88% move from the prior day. This move was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 2.37%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 1.92%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.02%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the construction equipment company had gained 4.25% over the past month. This has outpaced the Industrial Products sector's loss of 1.1% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.31% in that time.

CAT will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.10, down 58.65% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $9.52 billion, down 25.37% from the year-ago period.

CAT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $5.18 per share and revenue of $41.57 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -53.16% and -22.74%, respectively.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for CAT. 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.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.17% higher within the past month. CAT is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, CAT is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 28.41. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 28.36, which means CAT is trading at a premium to the group.

Also, we should mention that CAT has a PEG ratio of 2.37. 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 8.27 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 125, putting it in the top 50% 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.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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