
Caterpillar is a farm & heavy construction machinery business based in the US. Caterpillar stocks (CAT.US) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Its last market close was $178.76 – a decrease of 4.96% over the previous week. Caterpillar employs 107,700 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around $52.7 billion.
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What's in this guide?
- Can I buy shares in Caterpillar?
- Has coronavirus impacted Caterpillar shares?
- Caterpillar shares summary
- Compare share dealing platforms
- Is Caterpillar stock a buy or sell?
- Caterpillar performance over time
- Is Caterpillar suitable for ethical investing?
- Are Caterpillar shares over-valued?
- Caterpillar's financials
- How volatile are Caterpillar shares?
- Does Caterpillar pay a dividend?
- Have Caterpillar shares ever split?
- Other common questions
Caterpillar stock price (NYSE:CAT)
Use our graph to track the performance of CAT stocks over time.Caterpillar shares at a glance
Latest market close | $178.29 |
---|---|
52-week range | $173.72 - $236.76 |
50-day moving average | $207.24 |
200-day moving average | $206.46 |
Wall St. target price | $232.00 |
PE ratio | 14.9572 |
Dividend yield | $4.44 (2.69%) |
Earnings per share (TTM) | $11.92 |
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Note: The dollar amounts in the table below are in Canadian dollars.
Is it a good time to buy Caterpillar stock?
The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.
Caterpillar price performance over time
Historical closes compared with the close of $178.29 from 2022-07-01
1 week (2022-06-24) | -3.88% |
---|---|
1 month (2022-06-03) | -20.01% |
3 months (2022-04-04) | -19.26% |
6 months (2022-01-04) | -18.25% |
1 year (2021-07-02) | -18.13% |
---|---|
2 years (2020-07-02) | 39.59% |
3 years (2019-07-03) | 31.49% |
5 years (2017-07-03) | 66.67% |
Is Caterpillar under- or over-valued?
Valuing Caterpillar stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Caterpillar's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.
Caterpillar's P/E ratio
Caterpillar's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 15x. In other words, Caterpillar shares trade at around 15x recent earnings.
That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.
Caterpillar's PEG ratio
Caterpillar's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.4911. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.
The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Caterpillar's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.
Caterpillar's EBITDA
Caterpillar's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is $10.5 billion.
The EBITDA is a measure of a Caterpillar's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.
Caterpillar financials
Revenue TTM | $52.7 billion |
---|---|
Operating margin TTM | 15.6% |
Gross profit TTM | $13.2 billion |
Return on assets TTM | 6.3% |
Return on equity TTM | 38.55% |
Profit margin | 12.33% |
Book value | $32.00 |
Market capitalisation | $95.1 billion |
TTM: trailing 12 months
Caterpillar's environmental, social and governance track record
Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Caterpillar.
When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.
Caterpillar's total ESG risk score
Total ESG risk: 40.85
Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Caterpillar's overall score of 40.85 (as at 12/31/2018) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 86th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.
ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Caterpillar is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).
Caterpillar's environmental score
Environmental score: 13.72/100
Caterpillar's environmental score of 13.72 puts it squarely in the 4th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Caterpillar is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
Caterpillar's social score
Social score: 21.74/100
Caterpillar's social score of 21.74 puts it squarely in the 4th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that Caterpillar is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.
Caterpillar's governance score
Governance score: 8.39/100
Caterpillar's governance score puts it squarely in the 4th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that Caterpillar is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.
Caterpillar's controversy score
Controversy score: 4/5
ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. Caterpillar scored a 4 out of 5 for controversy – the second-lowest score possible, reflecting that Caterpillar has a damaged public profile.
Caterpillar share dividends
Dividend payout ratio: 41.83% of net profits
Recently Caterpillar has paid out, on average, around 41.83% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 2.69% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Caterpillar shareholders could enjoy a 2.69% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Caterpillar's case, that would currently equate to about $4.44 per share.
While Caterpillar's payout ratio might seem fairly standard, it's worth remembering that Caterpillar may be investing much of the rest of its net profits in future growth.
Caterpillar's most recent dividend payout was on 18 August 2022. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 18 July 2022 (the "ex-dividend date").
Have Caterpillar's shares ever split?
Caterpillar's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 13 July 2005. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Caterpillar shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Caterpillar shares which in turn could have impacted Caterpillar's share price.
Caterpillar share price volatility
Over the last 12 months, Caterpillar's shares have ranged in value from as little as $173.72 up to $236.7646. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".
Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Caterpillar's is 0.9279. This would suggest that Caterpillar's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).
Caterpillar overview
Caterpillar Inc. manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines worldwide. Its Construction Industries segment offers asphalt pavers, backhoe loaders, compactors, cold planers, compact track and multi-terrain loaders, excavators, motorgraders, pipelayers, road reclaimers, site prep tractors, skid steer loaders, telehandlers, and utility vehicles; mini, small, medium, and large excavators; compact, small, and medium wheel loaders; track-type tractors and loaders; and wheel excavators. The Resource Industries segment provides electric rope shovels, draglines, hydraulic shovels, rotary drills, hard rock vehicles, track-type tractors, mining trucks, longwall miners, wheel loaders, off-highway trucks, articulated trucks, wheel tractor scrapers, wheel dozers, fleet management, landfill compactors, soil compactors, machinery components, autonomous ready vehicles and solutions, select work tools, and safety services and mining performance solutions. The Energy & Transportation segment offers reciprocating engines, generator sets, integrated systems and solutions, turbines and turbine-related services, remanufactured reciprocating engines and components, centrifugal gas compressors, diesel-electric locomotives and components, and other rail-related products and services for marine, oil and gas, industrial, and electric power generation sectors. The company's Financial Products segment provides operating and finance leases, installment sale contracts, working capital loans, and wholesale financing plans; and insurance and risk management products for vehicles, power generation facilities, and marine vessels. The All Other operating segment manufactures filters and fluids, undercarriage, ground engaging tools, etc.
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Frequently asked questions
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