Caterpillar (CAT) Competitors

Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) and Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) are both large-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, earnings, profitability, valuation, community ranking, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership 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 1.5%. Deere & Company pays out 25.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Caterpillar pays out 26.1% 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 analysts rate DE or CAT?

Deere & Company presently has a consensus price target of $442.83, suggesting a potential downside of 3.01%. Caterpillar has a consensus price target of $380.60, suggesting a potential downside of 1.41%. Given Caterpillar's higher probable 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)	11 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.45
Caterpillar	3 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.24

Does the media favor DE or CAT?

In the previous week, Caterpillar had 2 more articles in the media than Deere & Company. MarketBeat recorded 65 mentions for Caterpillar and 63 mentions for Deere & Company. Caterpillar's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Deere & Company's score of 0.80 indicating that Caterpillar is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Deere & Company	35 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	7 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Caterpillar	45 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	6 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor DE or CAT?

Caterpillar received 45 more outperform votes than Deere & Company when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 64.82% of users gave Deere & Company an outperform vote while only 62.38% of users gave Caterpillar an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Deere & Company	Outperform Votes 1159 64.82%	Underperform Votes 629 35.18%
Caterpillar	Outperform Votes 1204 62.38%	Underperform Votes 726 37.62%

Is DE or CAT more profitable?

Caterpillar has a net margin of 16.26% compared to Deere & Company's net margin of 13.73%. Caterpillar's return on equity of 59.09% beat Deere & Company's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Deere & Company	13.73%	31.32%	6.73%
Caterpillar	16.26%	59.09%	12.77%

Which has more risk and volatility, DE or CAT?

Deere & Company has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its stock price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Caterpillar has a beta of 1.13, indicating that its stock price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, DE or CAT?

Caterpillar has higher revenue and earnings than Deere & Company. Deere & Company is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Caterpillar, 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	$51.72B	2.40	$7.10B	$25.60	17.83
Caterpillar	$67.06B	2.78	$10.34B	$21.57	17.90

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in DE or CAT?

68.6% of Deere & Company shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.0% of Caterpillar shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Deere & Company shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Caterpillar shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Caterpillar beats Deere & Company on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.