CAT vs CEPL vs GNRC Stock Comparison

Caterpillar, Capstone Energy Plus and Generac Holdings Prices as of Nov 3, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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CAT Caterpillar Inc
$623.86 -26.2% 1M +9.3% 1Y
Market cap
$271.70B
P/E
25.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$74.73B
Div. yield
0.01%
Heavy Equipment Industrials
8 wins
GNRC Generac Holdings Inc.
$209.25 -3.5% 1M +27.8% 1Y
Market cap
$11.10B
P/E
36.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$4.62B
Div. yield
0.00%
Power Equipment Industrials
2 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Caterpillar leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Caterpillar 8, Generac Holdings 2, Capstone Energy Plus 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCATCEPLGNRCLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $271.70B $93.56M $11.10B CAT
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 25.1x 26.2x 36.8x CAT
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 24.2x — 22.5x GNRC
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +18.4% +5.4% +6.1% CAT
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 14.5% 3.5% 6.5% CAT
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 15.9% — 8.4% CAT
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.5x -0.7x 1.2x CEPL
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.00% 0.00% CAT
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +9.3% — +27.8% GNRC
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +25.1%/yr — -14.3%/yr CAT
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 40.6% 114.2% 56.6% CAT
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 54/100 76/100 64/100 CEPL

Percentile Scorecard

CATCEPLGNRC

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

AxisCATCEPLGNRC
Valuation 32 #140 of 204 98 #2 of 63 73 #18 of 63
Growth 70 #58 of 191 92 #6 of 60 42 #35 of 60
Profitability 93 #14 of 189 84 #10 of 57 88 #8 of 57
Financial Health 17 #183 of 221 24 #55 of 72 51 #36 of 72
Shareholder Returns 61 #63 of 158 84 #6 of 33 69 #11 of 33
Overall 54 76 64
  • CAT ranked among 223 companies in Machinery
  • CEPL ranked among 72 companies in Clean Energy Equipment
  • GNRC 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

PeriodCATCEPLGNRCSPY
1 month -26.2%-34.7%-3.5% -2.0%
3 months -28.8%-64.3%-4.3% -2.2%
6 months -31.0%—-20.6% +4.2%
Year to date +8.9%—+53.4% +10.6%
1 year +9.3%—+27.8% +10.4%
3 years +159.1%—+99.4% +73.6%
3 years, per year +37.4%—+25.9% +20.2%
5 years +206.4%—-53.7% +61.6%
5 years, per year +25.1%—-14.3% +10.1%
10 years +667.6%—+468.2% +261.3%
10 years, per year +22.6%—+19.0% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureCATCEPLGNRCSPY
Volatility, 1Y 40.6%114.2%56.6% 12.8%
Downside volatility, 1Y 43.1%120.3%53.7% 12.8%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.913.692.13 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.23—0.49 0.81
Max drawdown, 5Y -42.4%-78.5%-81.8% -25.4%
From 52-week high -41.4%-75.3%-29.2% -3.2%
52-week high $1,064.90$11.88$295.54 $779.14
52-week low $546.13$2.55$136.37 $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.

MultipleCATCEPLGNRC
P/E now vs peer median 26.5xmedian 25.4x 28.1xmedian 28.1x 40.9xmedian 28.1x
P/S now vs peer median 3.8xmedian 1.9x 0.9xmedian 2.6x 2.7xmedian 2.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 21.0xmedian 14.5x 9.5xmedian 18.9x 16.8xmedian 18.9x
P/FCF now vs peer median 31.9xmedian 23.6x 33.2xmedian 29.8x 29.8xmedian 29.8x
P/B now vs peer median 14.8xmedian 2.2x -2.1xmedian 1.9x 4.1xmedian 1.9x
PEG now vs peer median 2.03median 1.21 1.02median 0.77 2.22median 0.77

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 monthsCATCEPLGNRC
Revenue $74.73B $103.06M $4.62B
Gross profit $25.66B $35.07M $1.84B
Operating income $13.09B $4.53M $478.99M
Net income $10.84B $3.56M $301.14M
Free cash flow $8.99B $2.87M $414.49M
R&D $2.27B $4.03M $253.28M
EPS (diluted) $23.45 $0.10 $5.06
Cash & equivalents $6.71B $32.30M $393.67M
Total debt $45.15B $25.34M $1.33B
Shares (diluted) 462.50M 34.34M 59.56M
Enterprise value $243.40B $9.47M $9.83B

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
MetricCATCEPLGNRC
P/E 26.5x 28.1x 40.9x
P/FCF 31.9x 33.2x 29.8x
P/Operating cash flow 21.1x 21.3x 20.5x
P/S 3.8x 0.9x 2.7x
P/B 14.8x -2.1x 4.1x
P/Tangible book 15.1x -1.9x 4.4x
EV/EBITDA 21.0x 9.5x 16.8x
EV/EBIT 24.8x 19.5x 27.7x
EV/Revenue 4.4x 0.9x 2.9x
EV/FCF 36.2x 30.8x 32.0x
EV/Operating cash flow 24.0x 19.8x 22.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 2.03 1.02 2.22

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCATCEPLGNRC
Revenue growth (1Y) 18.4% 5.4% 6.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 4.9% 9.3% 4.8%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 11.7% 29.5% 7.4%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 5.6% 52.0% 11.8%
Operating income growth (1Y) 13.7% 305.8% -3.5%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 7.7% 30.7% 11.8%
Net income growth (1Y) 14.9% 190.1% -0.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 9.0% 28.8% 15.7%
EPS growth (1Y) 17.1% 151.0% -0.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 13.0% 27.5% 18.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 19.3% 11.9% 2.1%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 10.6% 35.5% 25.3%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 16.2% -8.6% -2.3%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 7.4% 29.3% 26.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCATCEPLGNRC
Gross margin 34.3% 34.0% 39.9%
EBITDA margin 20.7% 9.1% 17.1%
Operating margin 17.5% 4.4% 10.4%
Pretax margin 18.6% 3.4% 8.7%
Net margin 14.5% 3.5% 6.5%
FCF margin 12.0% 2.8% 9.0%
Operating cash flow margin 18.2% 4.3% 13.0%
Return on equity 57.0% – 10.3%
Return on assets 10.9% 3.1% 5.1%
Return on invested capital 15.9% – 8.4%
Return on capital employed 22.1% 12.2% 10.6%
Asset turnover 0.8x 0.9x 0.8x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.3x 1.3x 2.0x
Stock comp / revenue – 0.8% 1.1%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCATCEPLGNRC
Debt / assets 44.0% 22.1% 21.7%
Debt / equity 2.3x -0.6x 0.4x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.5x -0.7x 1.2x
Debt / FCF 5.0x 8.8x 3.2x
Liabilities / assets 81.1% 139.4% 50.9%
Equity / assets 18.9% -39.4% 49.1%
Interest coverage 6.8x 1.1x 7.3x
Current ratio 1.4x 1.0x 2.0x
Quick ratio 0.5x 0.6x 0.9x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.4x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 4.35 -10.49 4.41

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCATCEPLGNRC
Dividend yield 1.0% – 0.0%
Net buyback yield 2.5% 0.4% -0.1%
Shareholder yield 3.6% 0.4% -0.1%
Payout ratio (earnings) 25.9% – 0.1%
Payout ratio (FCF) 31.3% – 0.1%
Dividend growth (1Y) 4.2% – 0.0%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 4.1% – –

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.

ConsensusCATCEPLGNRC
Forward P/E 24.2xFY2026 – 22.5xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $25.79FY2026 $-0.01FY2026 $9.31FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +35.3%FY2026 – +46.8%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +31.4% – +42.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $84.12BFY2026 $115.36MFY2026 $4.60BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +24.5%FY2026 +8.8%FY2026 +9.1%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +1.5% +28.2% +48.6%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCATCEPLGNRC
Held by institutions 72.3% – 89.4%
Institutions holding 4,062 – 1,000
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.6% – -1.0%
Institutions buying 1,891 – 532
Institutions selling 1,597 – 322
Buyers to sellers 1.18 – 1.65

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.

CATCEPLGNRC
CAT 1.00 0.48 0.63
CEPL 0.48 1.00 0.54
GNRC 0.63 0.54 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CAT, CEPL and GNRC?

Caterpillar (CAT) is the largest by market capitalisation: Caterpillar (CAT) $271.70B, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) $93.56M, Generac Holdings (GNRC) $11.10B.

Which stock is cheaper, CAT, CEPL and GNRC?

Caterpillar (CAT) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Caterpillar (CAT) 25.1x, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 26.2x, Generac Holdings (GNRC) 36.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Generac Holdings (GNRC) is cheapest (Caterpillar (CAT) 24.2x, Generac Holdings (GNRC) 22.5x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Caterpillar (CAT) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Caterpillar (CAT) +18.4%, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) +5.4%, Generac Holdings (GNRC) +6.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Caterpillar (CAT) has the highest net margin (Caterpillar (CAT) 14.5%, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 3.5%, Generac Holdings (GNRC) 6.5%). On return on invested capital, Caterpillar (CAT) leads (Caterpillar (CAT) 15.9%, Generac Holdings (GNRC) 8.4%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Generac Holdings (GNRC) returned the most: Caterpillar (CAT) +9.3%, Generac Holdings (GNRC) +27.8%. Over five years, Caterpillar (CAT) compounded fastest (Caterpillar (CAT) +25.1%/yr, Generac Holdings (GNRC) -14.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Caterpillar (CAT) has the highest dividend yield: Caterpillar (CAT) 0.01%, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 0.00%, Generac Holdings (GNRC) 0.00%. Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Caterpillar (CAT) has been the steadiest (Caterpillar (CAT) 40.6%, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 114.2%, Generac Holdings (GNRC) 56.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CAT, CEPL and GNRC?

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 8. 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.