Dow Today: United Technologies (UTX) 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 42.0 points (-0.3%) at 13,944. During the day, 558.6 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 629.6 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio closed at 1,222 issues advancing vs. 1,750 declining with 128 unchanged.

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The Dow component that led the way higher today was United Technologies (NYSE:UTX), which sported a 57-cent gain (+0.7%) bringing the stock to $89.95. Volume for United Technologies ended the day at 3.8 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 4.1 million shares.

United Technologies has a market cap of $81.81 billion and is part of the conglomerates sector and conglomerates industry. Shares are up 8.8% year to date as of Wednesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.4%.

United Technologies Corporation provides technology products and services to the building systems and aerospace industries worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.8, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates United Technologies as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, increase in net income, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and solid stock price performance. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

• You can view the full United Ratings Report.

Holding the Dow back today was Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), which lagged the broader Dow index with a $1.59 decline (-1.6%) bringing the stock to $96.11. This single loss lowered the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 12.03 points or roughly accounting for 28.6% of the Dow's overall loss. Volume for Caterpillar ended the day at 6.2 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 6.1 million shares.

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Caterpillar has a market cap of $64.37 billion and is part of the conglomerates sector and conglomerates industry. Shares are up 9.9% year to date as of Wednesday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.1%.

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 11.6, 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 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 high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

• You can view the full Caterpillar Ratings Report.

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