
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.
He's watching it. On their conference call Q1 there was a major misunderstanding about the guidance they gave; no, they haven't hit their peak for the year. Rather they reached the high point on their margin percentage. The street reacted negatively and sold. It was astonishing. A fine company, but he's not sure this is the best company in this space and there's a lot of competition here.
AAPL-Q vs. CAT-N. CAT-N is machinery and has been a hero. They both really pulled back. CAT-N had a 22% earnings beat last quarter. AAPL-Q is really the iPhone X or 10 story. They missed on units. It is not a lost leader but the concept applies. This will be used like the iPad with augmented reality. You are in a very expensive period of time – an air pocket. AAPL-Q is a great company, however.
(A Top Pick Nov 16/16. Down 52%.) *Short* At the time, this was trading at over 30 times earnings, with basically 3 years of down earnings. It was trading at a ridiculously high multiple. They missed on the past 5 quarters, and the stock had run up on the idea that Donald Trump was going to build the wall using thousands of Caterpillar tractors. He underestimated the global recovery, which helped sales. On top of that, they operationally improved their margins to such a degree that earnings recovery has grown through the estimates in the last three quarters. Has shorted again recently because, although a good story, it is trading at 25X what he thinks will be their peak earnings.
This was basically left for dead and everybody was very negative on it. It hit a low in late January 2016, and has rebounded nicely. It was a long, long decline for the better part of 2 years, and then finally started to turn around, and it is breaking out again. This is its first break-out in 6 years. This is probably a pretty positive thing for everybody in the world, because it means very, very hard-core resources and commodities are getting moved around.
Pays a good 3.5% yield with a 10x PE, which are likely depressed by the global slowdown and the trade war, but the slowdown will turn. Buy this if you have a 3-5-year horizon. Governments need to start spending on infrastructure to get economies going. Also look at CMI-N.