Dow Today: Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) Leads The Day Higher, Caterpillar (CAT) Lags

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) closed up three points at 13,172. During the day, 442.7 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 661.9 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio closed at 1,467 issues advancing vs. 1,510 declining with 138 unchanged.

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The Dow component that led the way higher today was Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT), which sported a 61-cent gain (+0.8%) bringing the stock to $74.01. This single gain lifted the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 4.62 points or roughly accounting for 154% of the Dow's overall gain. Volume for Wal-Mart Stores ended the day at 6.9 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 10.7 million shares.

Wal-Mart Stores has a market cap of $251.43 billion and is part of the services sector and retail industry. Shares are up 23.3% year to date as of Monday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.2%.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates retail stores in various formats worldwide. It operates retail stores, restaurants, discount stores, supermarkets, supercenters, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, apparel stores, Sam's Clubs, and neighborhood markets, as well as walmart.com; and samsclub.com. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.8, below the average retail industry P/E ratio of 16 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Wal-Mart Stores as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income and good cash flow from operations. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

• You can view the full Wal-Mart Stores Ratings Report.

Holding the Dow back today was Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), which lagged the broader Dow index with a 74-cent decline (-0.8%) bringing the stock to $87.87. Volume for Caterpillar ended the day at 5.4 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 7.6 million shares.

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Caterpillar has a market cap of $56.98 billion and is part of the conglomerates sector and conglomerates industry. Shares are down 1.8% year to date as of Monday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.3%.

Caterpillar Inc. manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 9.9, above the average conglomerates industry P/E ratio of 9.8 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

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.

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

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