Caterpillar (CAT) Competitors

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, profitability, community ranking and risk.

Is DE or CAT a better dividend stock?

Deere & Company pays an annual dividend of $6.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Caterpillar pays an annual dividend of $5.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Deere & Company pays out 28.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Caterpillar pays out 25.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Caterpillar has increased its dividend for 30 consecutive years. Caterpillar is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in DE or CAT?

68.6% of Deere & Company shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Caterpillar shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Deere & Company shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Caterpillar shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor DE or CAT?

Caterpillar received 53 more outperform votes than Deere & Company when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.43% of users gave Deere & Company an outperform vote while only 62.32% of users gave Caterpillar an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Deere & Company	Outperform Votes 1161 64.43%	Underperform Votes 641 35.57%
Caterpillar	Outperform Votes 1214 62.32%	Underperform Votes 734 37.68%

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, DE or CAT?

Caterpillar has higher revenue and earnings than Deere & Company. Caterpillar is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Deere & Company, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Deere & Company	$46.93B	2.71	$7.10B	$22.56	20.74
Caterpillar	$64.81B	2.20	$10.79B	$22.07	13.51

Does the media refer more to DE or CAT?

In the previous week, Caterpillar had 29 more articles in the media than Deere & Company. MarketBeat recorded 73 mentions for Caterpillar and 44 mentions for Deere & Company. Deere & Company's average media sentiment score of 1.06 beat Caterpillar's score of 0.84 indicating that Deere & Company is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Deere & Company	30 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Caterpillar	41 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	7 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, DE or CAT?

Deere & Company has a beta of 1, suggesting that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Caterpillar has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its stock price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is DE or CAT more profitable?

Caterpillar has a net margin of 16.65% compared to Deere & Company's net margin of 12.94%. Caterpillar's return on equity of 58.18% beat Deere & Company's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Deere & Company	12.94%	27.31%	5.87%
Caterpillar	16.65%	58.18%	12.57%

Do analysts rate DE or CAT?

Deere & Company presently has a consensus price target of $457.26, suggesting a potential downside of 2.27%. Caterpillar has a consensus price target of $365.87, suggesting a potential upside of 22.75%. Given Caterpillar's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Caterpillar is more favorable than Deere & Company.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Deere & Company	0 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.38
Caterpillar	2 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.39

Summary

Caterpillar beats Deere & Company on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.