CAT
Caterpillar Inc.
CAT has the edge over WERN overall, supported by stronger modeled upside and stronger fundamentals.
WERN
Werner Enterprises, Inc.
WERN 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.
WERN Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Under pressure | |
| Under pressure | |
| Strong |
WERN's revenue and balance sheet are currently healthy, but its profitability and cash flow are under pressure.
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.
WERN PE Valuation
WERN 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.
WERN Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| -- | |
| Strong growth | |
| Growth | |
| Improving | |
| Limited | |
| Low |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for WERN, with profitability improving. However, they disagree widely on these estimates.
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 WERN on earnings quality, reporting a profit while its opponent remains loss making.
WERN Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $1.43 | — |
| Q3 2026 | -$0.31 | -176% |
| Q2 2026 | -$0.76 | -188% |
| Q1 2026 | -$0.15 | -152% |
| Q4 2025 | -$0.24 | -144% |
| Q3 2025 | $0.41 | -44% |
| Q2 2025 | $0.86 | -13% |
| Q1 2025 | $0.29 | -78% |
| Q4 2024 | $0.55 | -69% |
WERN has swung to a loss: it lost $0.31 per share over the past year, after a profit 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 has the edge over WERN on sales, with more consistent year-over-year improvement.
| 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 has the edge over WERN on profitability, with a higher operating margin.
WERN Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $950.5M | +23% |
| Q2 2026 | $933.9M | +24% |
| Q1 2026 | $808.6M | +14% |
| Q4 2025 | $737.6M | -2.3% |
| Q3 2025 | $771.5M | +3.5% |
| Q2 2025 | $753.1M | -1% |
| Q1 2025 | $712.1M | -7.4% |
| Q4 2024 | $754.7M | -8.2% |
WERN's revenue is growing: $951M last quarter, up 23% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 1.8% | +3.5 points |
| Q2 2026 | 1.8% | -7 points |
| Q1 2026 | 0.5% | +1.3 points |
| Q4 2025 | -4.8% | -6.6 points |
| Q3 2025 | -1.7% | -4 points |
| Q2 2025 | 8.8% | +6.2 points |
| Q1 2025 | -0.8% | -2.8 points |
| Q4 2024 | 1.8% | -2.8 points |
WERN's operating margin was 1.8% last quarter, up 3.5 points from the same quarter a year ago.
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 WERN on cash generation, producing positive trailing cash flow while its opponent burns cash.
WERN Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -$63.2M | -$54.6M |
| Q2 2026 | $54.8M | +$97.1M |
| Q1 2026 | $30.7M | +424% |
| Q4 2025 | -$23.5M | -$13.8M |
| Q3 2025 | -$8.6M | +$64.9M |
| Q2 2025 | -$42.3M | -$11.1M |
| Q1 2025 | $5.9M | -81% |
| Q4 2024 | -$9.8M | -120% |
WERN's free cash flow was −$1M over the past year, against −$55M 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 WERN 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.
WERN Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +0.1% | +65K shares |
| 1 year | +0.8% | +475K shares |
| 3 years | -5.4% | -3.4M shares |
| 5 years | -11% | -7.5M shares |
| Available history | -14% | -9.7M shares |
WERN has 60M diluted shares, up 0.8% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | — |
| Q4 2025 | $9,000 |
| Q3 2025 | — |
| Q2 2025 | $55.6M |
| Q1 2025 | — |
| Q4 2024 | $17,000 |
| Q3 2024 | — |
| Q2 2024 | $60.5M |
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 more cash than debt.
WERN Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 2022 | 1.0x | Very low |
| Q3 2021 | 0.6x | Very low |
| Q2 2021 | 0.8x | Very low |
| Q1 2021 | 0.5x | Very low |
| Q4 2020 | 0.8x | Very low |
| Q3 2020 | 0.7x | Very low |
| Q2 2020 | 0.6x | Very low |
| Q1 2020 | 0.9x | Very low |
WERN's net debt is about a year of its operating earnings (EBITDA).
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).
WERN Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 34.5 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 3.7 | Oversold |
WERN's weekly RSI is 35 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 4 (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.
WERN PE vs Industrials Sector
| Metric | WERN | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | N/A | 24x | — |
WERN 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 |
CAT has the edge over WERN on trend strength, trading above more of its moving averages.
WERN Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $30.6 | 9.4% below |
| 20 week MA | $36.2 | 23% below |
| 50 week MA | $35.1 | 21% below |
| 100 week MA | $32.2 | 14% below |
| 200 week MA | $36.4 | 24% below |
WERN is in a downtrend: it's below all five of its weekly moving averages, and 24% below its 200-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 the edge over WERN on returns for 2026, with the stronger performance.
WERN Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $36.2 | $39.6 | +9.2% |
| 2021 | $39.6 | $46.2 | +17% |
| 2022 | $46.2 | $41.6 | -10% |
| 2023 | $41.6 | $42.4 | +1.9% |
| 2024 | $42.4 | $36.3 | -14% |
| 2025 | $36.3 | $30.6 | -16% |
| 2026 YTD | $30.6 | $27.8 | -9.2% |
WERN has finished lower in three of the last six years. It's down 9.2% so far in 2026.