
NYSE:CAT
This summary was created by AI, based on 31 opinions in the last 12 months.
Caterpillar (CAT) has been a popular choice among experts, primarily due to its robust earnings growth and significant backlog of orders, reportedly exceeding $60 billion. While many express optimism regarding its potential in the infrastructure and data center segments driven by trends like AI and energy demand, concerns about its current P/E ratio, which has risen considerably to 32-36x, have led some to take profits or warn against buying at this level. The stock has seen hefty appreciation in 2023, with reports of increases around 140% for some investors, indicating both excitement and caution about its overheated status. Overall, CAT is viewed as a strong play on global infrastructure but analysts suggest caution regarding its valuation and the cyclical nature of the industrial sector.
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%.
Likes CAT in the industrial space.
With recent events in Venezuela (and that's a longer-term type of thing), he certainly sees the path for more infrastructure buildout around the world. Obviously, some of the US names are multinational so you could stick with those. There are global names out there, but the US names will get you far.
He took profits, and the stock keeps going up. Concerned that PE is near a 10-year high, so valuation's getting tricky. Forward PE is about 29x for ~11% growth, a bit expensive for an industrial. But he does love the name. We'll see a lot more infrastructure buildout.
If you're looking to get in, wait for a dip.
Took profits, because it got a bit expensive based on historical averages and peer valuations. Trading at 28x forward PE with 11% growth. If it pulled back enough, he'd look at it again.
What's interesting about this name is that it's performing well partly because of data centre expansion. You need equipment to build data centres to support the AI boom.
If you think there's going to be a mining cycle, it's a given that this name will sell a lot of equipment.
People are underestimating its big turbine business -- natural gas turbine generators that are smaller than utility-grade generators. This part of the business feeds right into the data centre buildout. Can be used for alternate, backup sources of power. Only 5% of revenue right now, but could grow 10-25% a year over next few years with strong pricing. Yield is 1.12%.
He owns neither. CAT has down really well. Both benefit as agriculture recovers.