Caterpillar (CAT) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Caterpillar Inc. is a global manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines and locomotives. The company’s product portfolio includes earthmoving machines such as excavators, bulldozers, wheel loaders and off‑highway trucks, as well as a range of power generation products including generator sets and power systems for industrial and commercial use. Caterpillar serves customers across heavy construction, mining, energy, transportation and related industries with both equipment and integrated technology solutions.

In addition to manufacturing, Caterpillar provides a broad range of aftermarket parts and support services, including maintenance, repair, remanufacturing and fleet management tools. The company also offers financing, insurance and asset management through its financial services operations to support equipment sales and customer liquidity needs. Caterpillar’s offerings increasingly incorporate digital and telematics solutions designed to improve productivity, safety and uptime across customer fleets, and the company supplies rail products and services through its rail business.

Founded in 1925 through the merger of Holt Manufacturing Company and C.L. Best Tractor Co., Caterpillar has grown into a multinational enterprise with manufacturing facilities and a network of independent dealers serving customers around the world. The company moved its corporate headquarters from Peoria to the Chicago area in recent years and operates in major markets across North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia‑Pacific region. Caterpillar’s executive leadership includes James (Jim) Umpleby III, who has served as chief executive officer, and the company is governed by a board of directors responsible for its strategic direction.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $888.10 to $908.90
• 50-Day Range: $667.36 to $890.91
• 52-Week Range: $318.11 to $908.90
• Volume: 1.71 million shs
• Average Volume: 2.70 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $420.56 billion
• P/E Ratio: 44.87
• Dividend Yield: 0.67%
• Price Target: $878.91
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Caterpillar Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Caterpillar scored higher than 82% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 56th out of 173 stocks in the industrials sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 2.3 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Caterpillar has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.64, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 16 buy ratings, 9 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside/Downside

The consensus price target for Caterpillar is close to its current price, suggesting limited near-term upside or downside.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Caterpillar has been the subject of 18 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 22.27%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Caterpillar are expected to grow by 22.27% in the coming year, from $23.08 to $28.22 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Caterpillar is 44.61, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 38.56.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Caterpillar is 44.61, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Industrials sector average P/E ratio of about 25.17.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Caterpillar has a PEG Ratio of 2.04. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Caterpillar has a P/B Ratio of 19.58. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 4.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

1.64% of the float of Caterpillar has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Caterpillar has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 3.59, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Caterpillar has recently decreased by 4.39%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.

Dividend

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Yield

Caterpillar has a dividend yield of 0.68%, which is in the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

Dividend Growth

Caterpillar has been increasing its dividend for 30 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Caterpillar is 30.06%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Caterpillar will have a dividend payout ratio of 21.40% next year. This indicates that Caterpillar will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 4.3 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.92

News Sentiment

Caterpillar has a news sentiment score of 0.92. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.57 average news sentiment score of Industrials companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 145 news articles for Caterpillar this week, compared to 17 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

270 people have searched for CAT on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 13% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

75 people have added Caterpillar to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 92% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.4 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Caterpillar insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $32,419,200.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.33% of the stock of Caterpillar is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

70.98% of the stock of Caterpillar is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

CAT Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have CAT shares performed this year?

Caterpillar's stock was trading at $573.03 on January 1st, 2026. Since then, CAT stock has increased by 56.6% and is now trading at $897.3240.

How were Caterpillar's earnings last quarter?

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April, 30th. The industrial products company reported $5.54 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.65 by $0.89. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 22.2% compared to the same quarter last year.
Read the conference call transcript.

Is Caterpillar doing a stock buyback?

Caterpillar's board authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 12th 2024, which permits the company to buy back $20,000,000,000 in shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could purchase up to 12.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Does Caterpillar have any subsidiaries?

The following companies are subsidiaries of Caterpillar: Tangent Energy Solutions, CarbonPoint Solutions, The Weir Group PLC, CAT Robotics, Downer Freight Rail, ECM S.p.A., Yard Club, and more.

Who are Caterpillar's major shareholders?

Caterpillar's top institutional shareholders include Diamant Asset Management Inc. (0.67%), Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. (0.28%), Principal Financial Group Inc. (0.14%) and Fifth Third Bancorp (0.13%). Insiders that own company stock include Donald J Umpleby III, Lange Bob De, Anthony D Fassino, Andrew R J Bonfield, Denise C Johnson, Joseph E Creed, Cheryl H Johnson, Jason Kaiser, David Maclennan, Susan C Schwab, Daniel M Dickinson, Gerald Johnson, Rodney Michael Shurman and William E Schaupp.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Caterpillar?

Shares of CAT stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Caterpillar own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Caterpillar investors own include BlackRock (BLK), Chevron (CVX), Broadcom (AVGO), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), The Goldman Sachs Group (GS), ServiceNow (NOW) and NVIDIA (NVDA).

Company Calendar

• Record date for 2/19 Dividend: 1/20/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 2/19 Dividend: 1/20/2026
• Dividend Payable: 2/19/2026
• Record date for 5/19 Dividend: 4/20/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 5/19 Dividend: 4/20/2026
• Last Earnings: 4/30/2026
• Today: 5/05/2026
• Investor update: 5/18/2026
• Dividend Payable: 5/19/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Industrials
• Industry: MACH - CONST/MNG
• Sub-Industry: Construction & Farm Machinery & Heavy Trucks
• Current Symbol: NYSE:CAT
• CIK: 18230
• Web: www.caterpillar.com
• Phone: (972) 891-7700
• Fax: 309-675-6620
• Employees: 118,000
• Year Founded: 1925

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Caterpillar: $878.91
• High Price Target: $1,165.00
• Low Price Target: $500.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: -2.3%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.64
• Research Coverage: 25 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $20.09
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 44.75
• Forward P/E Ratio: 38.96
• P/E Growth: 2.04
• Net Income: $8.88 billion
• Net Margins: 13.33%
• Pretax Margin: 17.22%
• Return on Equity: 48.21%
• Return on Assets: 10.11%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.64
• Current Ratio: 1.35
• Quick Ratio: 0.81

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $67.59 billion
• Price / Sales: 6.19
• Cash Flow: $24.48 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 36.74
• Book Value: $45.82 per share
• Price / Book: 19.63

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 465,290,000
• Free Float: 463,752,000
• Market Cap: $418.40 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.63