CaterpillarCATHOLDMar 10, 2025Stock price when the opinion was issued
As of Jun 05, 2026. Market Open.
Equipment dealers are a great place to be -- pass through inflation very well, good plays on mining and global growth. TIH and FTT have the same type of chart, but not so much with WJX.
Technically, over its skis. So don't buy here. But the theme has legs for the next 3-5 years. FTT is a better deal (but at a lower level as well).
All 3 of the Top Picks today involve taking a bit of money away from the infrastructure plays.
This name plus WMT have been using AI the most and for the longest. Has autonomous and semi-autonomous machines. For those machines that have drivers, they just launched a CAT-AI system -- like having a friend and a coach in the cab. AI is being used for predicting and for supply chains.
His 12-month price target is $750. Buy 1/3 here, another ~$645, and the final 1/3 ~$605. Yield is 0.89%.
CAT is $165B market cap, 17X earnings, 1.62% yield, 6.96% five year dividend growth, down 4% YTD, debt/cash flow about 3X, forward growth about 10%. DE is $135B, 25X earnings, 1.30% yield, 14.68% dividend growth, 5X debt/cash flow, forward growth 15%. We would consider both HOLDS today. While good companies, they will be vulnerable in a global economic decline, as both have been in prior cycles. Automation/AI will help margins, but this will take some time to show up in the numbers. Mining expansions (CAT) and weak spending (DE) will likely mean less-than-robust growth and/or weak sentiment for a period of time.
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