Caterpillar (CAT) closed the latest trading day at $330.57, indicating a +0.23% change from the previous session's end. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.38%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.03%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.87%.

Heading into today, shares of the construction equipment company had lost 0.67% over the past month, outpacing the Industrial Products sector's loss of 6.24% and the S&P 500's loss of 5.59% in that time.

The investment community will be closely monitoring the performance of Caterpillar in its forthcoming earnings report. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $4.33, showcasing a 22.68% downward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $14.65 billion, down 7.29% from the year-ago period.

CAT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $19.65 per share and revenue of $63.29 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -10.27% and -2.34%, respectively.

Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Caterpillar. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.55% lower. At present, Caterpillar boasts a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

In terms of valuation, Caterpillar is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.78. This valuation marks no noticeable deviation compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 16.78.

Also, we should mention that CAT has a PEG ratio of 1.78. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.01 as trading concluded yesterday.

The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 156, placing it within the bottom 38% of over 250 industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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