Dow Today: McDonald's Corporation (MCD) Leads The Day Higher, Caterpillar (CAT) Lags

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) closed down 40.0 points (-0.3%) at 13,553. During the day, 537.6 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 587 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio closed at 922 issues advancing vs. 2,054 declining with 115 unchanged.

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The Dow component that led the way higher today was McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which sported a 43-cent gain (+0.5%) bringing the stock to $92.13. Volume for McDonald's Corporation ended the day at 4.6 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 5.5 million shares.

McDonald's Corporation has a market cap of $92.34 billion and is part of the services sector and leisure industry. Shares are down 8.7% year to date as of Friday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 3.1%.

McDonald's Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, franchises and operates McDonald's restaurants primarily in the United States, Europe, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. The company has a P/E ratio of 17.2, equal to the average leisure industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates McDonald's Corporation as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity, expanding profit margins and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow.

• You can view the full McDonald's Ratings Report.

Holding the Dow back today was Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), which lagged the broader Dow index with a $1.17 decline (-1.3%) bringing the stock to $92. This single loss lowered the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 8.85 points or roughly accounting for 22.1% of the Dow's overall loss. Volume for Caterpillar ended the day at 7.4 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 7.3 million shares.

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Caterpillar has a market cap of $59.24 billion and is part of the conglomerates sector and conglomerates industry. Shares are up 2.8% year to date as of Friday'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 10.1, equal to the average conglomerates industry P/E ratio 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, compelling growth in net income and increase in stock price during the past year. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full Caterpillar Ratings Report.

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