BW vs CAT vs FCEL Stock Comparison

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Caterpillar and Fuelcell Energy Prices as of Nov 5, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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CAT Caterpillar Inc
$553.47 -35.9% 1M -2.8% 1Y
Market cap
$253.27B
P/E
21.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$77.77B
Div. yield
1.13%
Heavy Equipment Industrials
7 wins
FCEL Fuelcell Energy Inc
$8.93 -56.8% 1M +5.2% 1Y
Market cap
$713.99M
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$154.14M
Div. yield
–
Fuel Cells Industrials
1 win

Head to Head

10 decided of 12

Caterpillar leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Caterpillar 7, Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises 2, Fuelcell Energy 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionBWCATFCELLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $461.78M $253.27B $713.99M CAT
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -13.3x 21.5x -3.5x –
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 22.1x 21.5x — CAT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +42.6% +20.3% +1.1% BW
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -4.0% 15.2% -115.7% CAT
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 14.3% 16.8% -20.5% CAT
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -2.8x 2.2x 4.6x BW
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield — 1.13% — –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -35.4% -2.8% +5.2% FCEL
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -16.2%/yr +21.9%/yr -49.4%/yr CAT
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 113.9% 41.1% 130.6% CAT
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 48/100 57/100 36/100 CAT

Percentile Scorecard

BWCATFCEL

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisBWCATFCEL
Valuation 55 #29 of 63 37 #129 of 204 29 #45 of 63
Growth 68 #20 of 60 73 #52 of 191 31 #42 of 60
Profitability 70 #18 of 57 92 #16 of 189 32 #39 of 57
Financial Health 42 #42 of 72 19 #180 of 221 82 #14 of 72
Shareholder Returns 3 #29 of 30 64 #58 of 159 7 #28 of 30
Overall 48 57 36
  • BW ranked among 72 companies in Clean Energy Equipment
  • CAT ranked among 223 companies in Machinery
  • FCEL ranked among 72 companies in Clean Energy Equipment

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodBWCATFCELSPY
1 month -47.5%-35.9%-56.8% -5.9%
3 months -66.9%-35.4%-56.1% -4.6%
6 months -79.1%-38.2%-27.3% +0.2%
Year to date -51.1%-3.4%+22.2% +7.5%
1 year -35.4%-2.8%+5.2% +8.2%
3 years +31.4%+132.3%-73.9% +68.3%
3 years, per year +9.5%+32.5%-36.1% +19.0%
5 years -58.7%+168.8%-96.7% +56.5%
5 years, per year -16.2%+21.9%-49.4% +9.4%
10 years -97.7%+572.4%-99.2% +251.5%
10 years, per year -31.6%+21.0%-38.0% +13.4%

Risk

MeasureBWCATFCELSPY
Volatility, 1Y 113.9%41.1%130.6% 13.6%
Downside volatility, 1Y 107.7%44.3%114.6% 14.2%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 3.231.773.58 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.31-0.070.04 0.60
Max drawdown, 5Y -97.4%-48.0%-98.9% -25.4%
From 52-week high -85.8%-48.0%-75.2% -5.9%
52-week high $21.85$1,064.90$36.01 $779.14
52-week low $3.10$546.13$6.00 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleBWCATFCEL
P/E now vs peer median -13.3xmedian 25.0x 21.5xmedian 23.4x -3.5xmedian 25.0x
P/S now vs peer median 0.6xmedian 2.3x 3.3xmedian 1.7x 4.6xmedian 2.3x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 10.1xmedian 18.3x 17.4xmedian 13.4x -0.5xmedian 18.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median -7.9xmedian 28.3x 26.3xmedian 21.9x -7.1xmedian 28.3x
P/B now vs peer median 8.0xmedian 1.8x 11.8xmedian 2.1x 0.7xmedian 1.8x
PEG now vs peer median -0.54median 0.65 1.65median 1.02 0.03median 0.65

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsBWCATFCEL
Revenue $821.95M $77.77B $154.14M
Gross profit $160.14M $27.05B -$49.92M
Operating income $22.49M $14.25B -$179.19M
Net income -$18.35M $11.83B -$178.30M
Free cash flow -$58.17M $9.62B -$101.12M
R&D – $2.31B $28.64M
EPS (diluted) $-0.21 $25.67 $-2.53
Cash & equivalents $308.63M $7.93B $658.10M
Total debt $209.43M $45.20B $18.80M
Shares (diluted) 154.51M 460.90M 70.41M
Enterprise value -$67.25M $224.57B -$899.42M

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricBWCATFCEL
P/E -13.3x 21.5x -3.5x
P/FCF -7.9x 26.3x -7.1x
P/Operating cash flow -13.3x 17.9x -7.4x
P/S 0.6x 3.3x 4.6x
P/B 8.0x 11.8x 0.7x
P/Tangible book 10.5x 12.0x 0.7x
EV/EBITDA 10.1x 17.4x -0.5x
EV/EBIT 16.1x 20.4x -0.4x
EV/Revenue 0.4x 3.7x 0.5x
EV/FCF -6.2x 30.2x -0.7x
EV/Operating cash flow -10.4x 20.5x -0.8x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -0.54 1.65 0.03

Growth

14 metrics
MetricBWCATFCEL
Revenue growth (1Y) 42.6% 20.3% 1.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 3.5% 5.3% 3.2%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 20.7% 18.1% -62.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -2.8% 5.2% -27.2%
Operating income growth (1Y) 879.4% 24.9% 12.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 17.5% 7.4% -8.0%
Net income growth (1Y) 87.7% 27.6% 11.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 17.3% 9.1% -13.9%
EPS growth (1Y) 87.1% 30.3% 69.5%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 24.6% 13.0% -104.7%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 72.4% 22.9% 0.3%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -73.7% 6.9% 13.4%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 57.3% 27.2% 18.9%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -120.7% 3.5% 17.8%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricBWCATFCEL
Gross margin 19.5% 34.8% -32.4%
EBITDA margin 4.4% 21.4% -89.9%
Operating margin 2.7% 18.3% -116.3%
Pretax margin -8.8% 19.3% -115.7%
Net margin -4.0% 15.2% -115.7%
FCF margin -7.1% 12.4% -65.6%
Operating cash flow margin -4.2% 18.2% -62.5%
Return on equity – 57.9% -20.8%
Return on assets -8.9% 11.3% -15.4%
Return on invested capital 14.3% 16.8% -20.5%
Return on capital employed 5.9% 22.3% -16.9%
Asset turnover 0.9x 0.7x 0.1x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.9x 1.2x 0.5x
Stock comp / revenue 2.0% – 6.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricBWCATFCEL
Debt / assets 21.0% 42.3% 1.4%
Debt / equity 3.7x 2.1x 0.0x
Net debt / EBITDA -2.8x 2.2x 4.6x
Debt / FCF -3.6x 4.7x -0.2x
Liabilities / assets 94.3% 79.9% 25.0%
Equity / assets 5.7% 20.1% 75.0%
Interest coverage 0.9x 7.2x -16.0x
Current ratio 1.5x 1.4x 8.7x
Quick ratio 1.1x 0.5x 7.3x
Cash ratio 0.6x 0.2x 6.8x
Altman Z-score -1.01 4.10 -0.46

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricBWCATFCEL
Dividend yield – 1.1% –
Net buyback yield -83.2% 3.2% -82.3%
Shareholder yield -83.2% 4.4% -82.3%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 24.1% –
Payout ratio (FCF) – 29.7% –
Dividend growth (1Y) – 4.8% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 4.2% –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusBWCATFCEL
Forward P/E 22.1xFY2026 21.5xFY2026 –
EPS, next fiscal year $0.14FY2026 $25.73FY2026 $-2.70FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – +35.0%FY2026 –
EPS growth, the year after +221.4% +30.7% –
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.01BFY2026 $83.62BFY2026 $153.46MFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +71.1%FY2026 +23.7%FY2026 -3.0%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +35.9% +1.8% +71.6%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersBWCATFCEL
Held by institutions 88.0% 72.3% 65.0%
Institutions holding 200 4,063 228
Change in shares held, QoQ +24.0% +0.6% +67.3%
Institutions buying 146 1,892 161
Institutions selling 41 1,597 38
Buyers to sellers 3.56 1.18 4.24

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

BWCATFCEL
BW 1.00 0.44 0.41
CAT 0.44 1.00 0.38
FCEL 0.41 0.38 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, BW, CAT and FCEL?

Caterpillar (CAT) is the largest by market capitalisation: Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) $461.78M, Caterpillar (CAT) $253.27B, Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) $713.99M.

Which company is growing faster?

Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) +42.6%, Caterpillar (CAT) +20.3%, Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) +1.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Caterpillar (CAT) has the highest net margin (Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) -4.0%, Caterpillar (CAT) 15.2%, Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) -115.7%). On return on invested capital, Caterpillar (CAT) leads (Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) 14.3%, Caterpillar (CAT) 16.8%, Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) -20.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) returned the most: Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) -35.4%, Caterpillar (CAT) -2.8%, Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) +5.2%. Over five years, Caterpillar (CAT) compounded fastest (Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) -16.2%/yr, Caterpillar (CAT) +21.9%/yr, Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) -49.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Caterpillar (CAT) 1.13%. Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) and Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Caterpillar (CAT) has been the steadiest (Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) 113.9%, Caterpillar (CAT) 41.1%, Fuelcell Energy (FCEL) 130.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, BW, CAT and FCEL?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Caterpillar (CAT) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.