Caterpillar Inc (CAT): Today's Featured Industrial Goods Loser

Caterpillar (CAT) pushed the Industrial Goods sector lower today making it today's featured Industrial Goods loser. The sector as a whole closed the day down 1.1%. By the end of trading, Caterpillar fell $2.24 (-2.6%) to $84.55 on average volume. Throughout the day, 6.6 million shares of Caterpillar exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 7.1 million shares. The stock ranged in price between $83.83-$85.25 after having opened the day at $85.16 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $86.79. Other company's within the Industrial Goods sector that declined today were: Wowjoint Holdings (BWOW), down 13.8%, China BAK Battery (CBAK), down 12.3%, A123 Systems (AONE), down 10.8%, and Active Power (ACPW), down 7%.

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Caterpillar Inc. manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives worldwide. Caterpillar has a market cap of $56.42 billion and is part of the conglomerates industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 10.9, equal to the average conglomerates industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are down 4.2% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday. Currently there are 15 analysts that rate Caterpillar a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and four rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Caterpillar as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, notable return on equity, impressive record of earnings per share growth and compelling growth in net income. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally poor debt management on most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full Caterpillar Ratings Report.

• Use our industrial goods section to find sector-relevant news.
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For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the industrial goods sector could consider Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI) while those bearish on the industrial goods sector could consider ProShares Short Dow 30 (DOG).

• Find other investment ideas from our top rated ETFs lists.

For more information on Caterpillar Inc click any of the following:

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• Caterpillar Inc Income Statement