CAT
Caterpillar Inc.
CAT has lower modeled downside risk, despite its lower overall score.
SNDK
Sandisk Corporation
SNDK has the edge over CAT overall, supported by stronger fundamentals and stronger valuation.
CAT Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong |
CAT's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently healthy.
SNDK Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong |
SNDK's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently strong.
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.
SNDK PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | 3.8x | $937 | — |
| Current | 7.5x | $937 | — |
| Cheap | 17x | $2,173 | +132% |
| Fair | 24x | $3,048 | +225% |
| Expensive | 59x | $7,452 | +695% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
SNDK has the edge over CAT in the historical PE scenario, which offers more potential upside but is not a forecast.
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.
SNDK Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| High |
Analysts expect strong earnings and revenue growth for SNDK, 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 earned $25.48 per share over the past year, up 31% from the year before.
SNDK Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $247.30 | +97% |
| Q3 2026 | $125.61 | +$137.63 |
| Q2 2026 | $73.76 | +$85.07 |
| Q2 2025 | -$11.31 | -$6.65 |
SNDK has the edge over CAT in the latest year-over-year earnings comparison.
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.
SNDK Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $11B | +378% |
| Q2 2026 | $9B | +372% |
| Q1 2026 | $6B | +251% |
| Q4 2025 | $3B | +61% |
| Q3 2025 | $2.3B | +23% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.9B | +8% |
| Q1 2025 | $1.7B | -0.6% |
| Q4 2024 | $1.9B | +13% |
SNDK has the edge over CAT on sales, with more consistent year-over-year improvement.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 80% | +72 points |
| Q2 2026 | 78% | +78 points |
| Q1 2026 | 69% | +180 points |
| Q4 2025 | 35% | +25 points |
| Q3 2025 | 7.6% | -9 points |
| Q2 2025 | 0.9% | N/A |
| Q1 2025 | -111% | -122 points |
| Q4 2024 | 10% | +6.6 points |
SNDK 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 has the edge over SNDK on cash flow, with more consistent year-over-year improvement.
SNDK Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $6.3B | +1340% |
| Q2 2026 | $7.1B | +14355% |
| Q1 2026 | $3B | +$3B |
| Q3 2025 | $438M | +$636M |
| Q2 2025 | $49M | +$217M |
| Q1 2025 | -$18M | +$23M |
| Q3 2024 | -$198M | -$157M |
SNDK generated $17.4B in free cash flow over the past year, more than ten times what it generated the year before.
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 SNDK 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.
SNDK Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -0.6% | -1M shares |
| 1 year | +3.4% | +5M shares |
| 3 years | +6.9% | +10M shares |
SNDK has 154M diluted shares, up 3.4% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $5B |
| Q3 2024 | — |
| Q2 2024 | — |
| Q1 2024 | — |
| Q4 2023 | — |
| Q3 2023 | — |
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 SNDK on leverage, with a lower net debt burden relative to earnings.
SNDK Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -0.2x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2026 | -0.4x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2026 | -0.7x | Net Cash |
SNDK has more cash than debt.
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).
SNDK Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 40.2 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 10.6 | Oversold |
SNDK's weekly RSI is 40 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 11 (oversold).
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.
SNDK PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | SNDK | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 7.5x | 28x | 73% below |
| PE % | 4 | 27 | 23 pts below |
SNDK has the edge over CAT on valuation relative to its sector.
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 |
CAT has stronger trend alignment. CAT is above 2 of 5 weekly averages versus SNDK above 0 of 3.
SNDK Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $1,317.5 | 29% below |
| 20 week MA | $1,465.4 | 36% below |
| 50 week MA | $1,119.6 | 16% below |
SNDK is in a downtrend: it's below all three of its weekly moving averages, and 16% below its 50-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.
SNDK Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $50.4 | $250.1 | +396% |
| 2026 YTD | $250.1 | $937.5 | +275% |
SNDK has the edge over CAT on returns for 2026, with the stronger performance.