In the latest market close, Caterpillar (CAT) reached $336.71, with a -1.73% movement compared to the previous day. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 1.07%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.62%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.71%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the construction equipment company had lost 3.02% over the past month. This has was narrower than the Industrial Products sector's loss of 4.99% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.03% in that time.

The upcoming earnings release of Caterpillar will be of great interest to investors. In that report, analysts expect Caterpillar to post earnings of $4.32 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 22.86%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $14.65 billion, showing a 7.29% drop compared to the year-ago quarter.

CAT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $19.64 per share and revenue of $63.29 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -10.32% and -2.34%, respectively.

Additionally, investors should keep an eye on any recent revisions to analyst forecasts for Caterpillar. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. 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, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.57% lower within the past month. Caterpillar currently has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).

Looking at valuation, Caterpillar is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 17.44. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 17.44, so one might conclude that Caterpillar is trading at no noticeable deviation comparatively.

One should further note that CAT currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.85. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.1 at yesterday's closing price.

The Manufacturing - Construction and Mining industry is part of the Industrial Products sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 185, this industry ranks in the bottom 27% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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

Zacks Investment Research