Deere & Company (DE) Competitors

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation and risk.

Which has more volatility and risk, DE or CAT?

Deere & Company has a beta of 1.09, suggesting that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Caterpillar has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor DE or CAT?

In the previous week, Caterpillar had 14 more articles in the media than Deere & Company. MarketBeat recorded 58 mentions for Caterpillar and 44 mentions for Deere & Company. Caterpillar's average media sentiment score of 1.09 beat Deere & Company's score of 1.02 indicating that Caterpillar is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Deere & Company	34 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Caterpillar	49 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is DE or CAT more profitable?

Caterpillar has a net margin of 16.65% compared to Deere & Company's net margin of 12.94%. Caterpillar's return on equity of 58.18% beat Deere & Company's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Deere & Company	12.94%	27.31%	5.87%
Caterpillar	16.65%	58.18%	12.57%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor DE or CAT?

Caterpillar received 49 more outperform votes than Deere & Company when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.27% of users gave Deere & Company an outperform vote while only 62.21% of users gave Caterpillar an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Deere & Company	Outperform Votes 1171 64.27%	Underperform Votes 651 35.73%
Caterpillar	Outperform Votes 1220 62.21%	Underperform Votes 741 37.79%

Is DE or CAT a better dividend stock?

Deere & Company pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Caterpillar pays an annual dividend of $6.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Deere & Company pays out 31.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Caterpillar pays out 29.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Deere & Company has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Caterpillar has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years. Caterpillar is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of DE or CAT?

68.6% of Deere & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Caterpillar shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Deere & Company shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Caterpillar shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, DE or CAT?

Caterpillar has higher revenue and earnings than Deere & Company. Caterpillar is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Deere & Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Deere & Company	$44.46B	3.19	$7.10B	$20.67	25.36
Caterpillar	$63.26B	2.70	$10.79B	$20.52	17.65

Do analysts prefer DE or CAT?

Deere & Company presently has a consensus price target of $515.19, suggesting a potential downside of 1.73%. Caterpillar has a consensus price target of $372.92, suggesting a potential upside of 2.96%. Given Caterpillar's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Caterpillar is more favorable than Deere & Company.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Deere & Company	0 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.48
Caterpillar	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Summary

Caterpillar beats Deere & Company on 17 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.