CAT
Caterpillar Inc.
CAT has a slight edge over LOAR overall, supported by stronger modeled upside and lower modeled downside.
LOAR
Loar Holdings Inc.
LOAR offers stronger valuation, but that advantage does not outweigh its weaker overall profile.
CAT Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong |
CAT's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently healthy.
LOAR Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Stable | |
| Strong | |
| Weak |
LOAR's revenue and cash flow are currently strong, and its profitability is stable, but its balance sheet is weak.
CAT PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 15x | $380 | -37% |
| Fair | 18x | $461 | -24% |
| Forward | 20x | $605 | — |
| Current | 24x | $605 | — |
| Expensive | 33x | $840 | +39% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
CAT's PE is in its expensive range at 24x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 20x next year's earnings, in its fair range.
LOAR PE Valuation
LOAR has no meaningful PE right now: it lost money over the past year.
CAT Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| Low |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for CAT, with profitability improving. However, they disagree widely on these estimates.
LOAR Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| -- | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Limited | |
| High |
Analysts expect strong earnings and revenue growth for LOAR, with profitability improving.
CAT Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $30.32 | +19% |
| Q3 2026 | $25.48 | +31% |
| Q2 2026 | $23.23 | +18% |
| Q1 2026 | $20.08 | -2% |
| Q4 2025 | $18.81 | -15% |
| Q3 2025 | $19.46 | -9.7% |
| Q2 2025 | $19.64 | -10% |
| Q1 2025 | $20.50 | -7.4% |
| Q4 2024 | $22.05 | +9.6% |
CAT has the edge over LOAR in the latest year-over-year earnings comparison.
LOAR Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $1.53 | — |
| Q4 2023 | -$0.06 | -$0.03 |
LOAR lost $0.06 per share over the past year, a bigger loss than the year before.
CAT Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $20.7B | +17% |
| Q2 2026 | $20.5B | +24% |
| Q1 2026 | $17.4B | +22% |
| Q4 2025 | $19.1B | +18% |
| Q3 2025 | $17.6B | +9.5% |
| Q2 2025 | $16.6B | -0.7% |
| Q1 2025 | $14.2B | -9.8% |
| Q4 2024 | $16.2B | -5% |
CAT's revenue has grown year over year for five quarters in a row: $20.7B last quarter, up 17% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 20% | +3.1 points |
| Q2 2026 | 21% | +3.6 points |
| Q1 2026 | 18% | -0.4 points |
| Q4 2025 | 14% | -4.1 points |
| Q3 2025 | 17% | -2.2 points |
| Q2 2025 | 17% | -3.6 points |
| Q1 2025 | 18% | -4.2 points |
| Q4 2024 | 18% | -0.3 points |
CAT's operating margin was 20% last quarter, up 3.1 points from the same quarter a year ago.
LOAR Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $176.2M | +39% |
| Q2 2026 | $171.6M | +39% |
| Q1 2026 | $156.1M | +36% |
| Q4 2025 | $131.8M | +19% |
| Q3 2025 | $126.8M | +22% |
| Q2 2025 | $123.1M | +27% |
| Q1 2025 | $114.7M | +25% |
| Q4 2024 | $110.4M | +28% |
LOAR has the edge over CAT on sales, with more consistent year-over-year improvement.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 26% | +3.3 points |
| Q2 2026 | 24% | +2.2 points |
| Q1 2026 | 21% | -1.3 points |
| Q4 2025 | 18% | -1.2 points |
| Q3 2025 | 23% | +0.8 points |
| Q2 2025 | 22% | -0.7 points |
| Q1 2025 | 23% | -0.4 points |
| Q4 2024 | 19% | -1.3 points |
LOAR has the edge over CAT on profitability, with a higher operating margin.
CAT Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $3.7B | +19% |
| Q2 2026 | $3.8B | +47% |
| Q1 2026 | $1.1B | +97% |
| Q4 2025 | $2.7B | +0.1% |
| Q3 2025 | $3.1B | -1.5% |
| Q2 2025 | $2.6B | -4.2% |
| Q1 2025 | $579M | -63% |
| Q4 2024 | $2.7B | -22% |
CAT generated $11.3B in free cash flow over the past year, up 26% from the year before.
LOAR Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $44.9M | +51% |
| Q2 2026 | $30.3M | +27% |
| Q1 2026 | $30.9M | +9% |
| Q4 2025 | $30.4M | +47% |
| Q3 2025 | $29.7M | +82% |
| Q2 2025 | $23.8M | +236% |
| Q1 2025 | $28.4M | +162% |
| Q4 2024 | $20.7M | +169% |
LOAR has the edge over CAT on cash flow, with more consistent year-over-year improvement.
CAT Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -0.3% | -1.6M shares |
| 1 year | -2.1% | -9.9M shares |
| 3 years | -10% | -51.7M shares |
| 5 years | -16% | -86.7M shares |
| Available history | -19% | -107M shares |
CAT has the edge over LOAR on shareholder dilution, with a more favorable share count trend.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $1.2B |
| Q2 2026 | $1.5B |
| Q1 2026 | $5B |
| Q4 2025 | $340M |
| Q3 2025 | $362M |
| Q2 2025 | $828M |
| Q1 2025 | $3.7B |
| Q4 2024 | $640M |
CAT spent $8.1B buying back its own shares over the past year, up 47% from the year before.
LOAR Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | 0% | -- |
| 1 year | 0% | -- |
LOAR has 88M diluted shares, about the same as a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q4 2023 | — |
| Q3 2023 | — |
| Q2 2023 | — |
| Q1 2023 | — |
| Q4 2022 | — |
| Q3 2022 | — |
| Q2 2022 | — |
| Q1 2022 | — |
LOAR hasn't bought back shares in the past year.
CAT Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -0.5x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2026 | -0.4x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2026 | -0.3x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2025 | 2.0x | Healthy |
| Q3 2025 | -0.6x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2025 | -0.4x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2025 | -0.3x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2024 | 1.6x | Healthy |
CAT has the edge over LOAR on leverage, with a lower net debt burden relative to earnings.
LOAR Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 5.0x | High |
| Q2 2026 | 5.9x | High |
| Q1 2026 | 6.8x | High |
| Q4 2025 | 5.3x | High |
| Q3 2025 | 1.6x | Healthy |
| Q2 2025 | 1.6x | Healthy |
| Q1 2025 | 1.9x | Healthy |
| Q4 2024 | 2.3x | Moderate |
LOAR's net debt is about 5.0 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), up from 1.6 years a year ago.
CAT Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 32.7 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 6.7 | Oversold |
CAT's weekly RSI is 33 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 7 (oversold).
LOAR Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 59.2 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 53.0 | Neutral |
LOAR's weekly RSI is 59 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 53 (neutral).
CAT PE vs Industrials Sector
| Metric | CAT | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 24x | 24x | 1.3% below |
| PE % | 69 | 58 | 11 pts above |
CAT is trading at 24x earnings, in line with the Industrials sector's median of 24x.
LOAR PE vs Industrials Sector
LOAR has no meaningful PE right now: it lost money over the past year.
CAT Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $709.0 | 15% below |
| 20 week MA | $797.0 | 24% below |
| 50 week MA | $771.3 | 22% below |
| 100 week MA | $586.7 | 3.2% above |
| 200 week MA | $443.1 | 37% above |
LOAR has stronger trend alignment. CAT is above 2 of 5 weekly averages versus LOAR above 4 of 4.
LOAR Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $65.6 | 14% above |
| 20 week MA | $69.1 | 8.6% above |
| 50 week MA | $67.2 | 12% above |
| 100 week MA | $72.3 | 3.8% above |
LOAR is in an uptrend: it's above all four of its weekly moving averages, and 3.8% above its 100-week average.
CAT Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $148.3 | $179.6 | +21% |
| 2021 | $179.6 | $206.2 | +15% |
| 2022 | $206.2 | $239.9 | +16% |
| 2023 | $239.9 | $295.7 | +23% |
| 2024 | $295.7 | $364.9 | +23% |
| 2025 | $364.9 | $583.0 | +60% |
| 2026 YTD | $583.0 | $605.3 | +3.8% |
CAT has finished every year since 2020 higher, and it's up 3.8% so far in 2026.
LOAR Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $49.7 | $74.9 | +51% |
| 2025 | $74.9 | $69.1 | -7.7% |
| 2026 YTD | $69.1 | $75.0 | +8.6% |
LOAR has the edge over CAT on returns for 2026, with the stronger performance.