CAT vs CEPL vs HWM Stock Comparison

Caterpillar, Capstone Energy Plus and Howmet Aerospace Prices as of Nov 2, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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CAT Caterpillar Inc
$613.45 -27.4% 1M +6.3% 1Y
Market cap
$282.00B
P/E
26.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$74.73B
Div. yield
1.02%
Heavy Equipment Industrials
4 wins
HWM Howmet Aerospace Inc.
$212.94 -8.0% 1M +3.4% 1Y
Market cap
$84.75B
P/E
41.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$9.73B
Div. yield
0.23%
Commercial Aerospace Industrials
5 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Howmet Aerospace leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Howmet Aerospace 5, Caterpillar 4, Capstone Energy Plus 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCATCEPLHWMLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $282.00B $83.02M $84.75B CAT
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 26.0x 24.5x 41.3x CEPL
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 23.8x — 41.0x CAT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +18.4% +5.4% +22.0% HWM
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 14.5% 3.5% 21.1% HWM
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 15.9% — 21.5% HWM
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.5x -0.7x 1.4x CEPL
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 1.02% — 0.23% CAT
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +6.3% — +3.4% CAT
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +24.7%/yr — +47.6%/yr HWM
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 40.6% 111.5% 36.2% HWM
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 54/100 76/100 73/100 CEPL

Percentile Scorecard

CATCEPLHWM

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

AxisCATCEPLHWM
Valuation 31 #141 of 203 98 #2 of 62 38 #63 of 101
Growth 70 #58 of 189 93 #5 of 59 91 #10 of 98
Profitability 92 #16 of 187 83 #10 of 55 99 #2 of 97
Financial Health 17 #184 of 221 24 #55 of 72 46 #58 of 107
Shareholder Returns 62 #59 of 152 83 #6 of 31 89 #8 of 64
Overall 54 76 73
  • CAT ranked among 223 companies in Machinery
  • CEPL ranked among 72 companies in Clean Energy Equipment
  • HWM ranked among 108 companies in Aerospace and Defense

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodCATCEPLHWMSPY
1 month -27.4%-43.2%-8.0% -2.3%
3 months -26.2%-68.4%-25.6% -0.7%
6 months -29.9%—-11.2% +4.8%
Year to date +7.1%—+3.9% +10.3%
1 year +6.3%—+3.4% +10.3%
3 years +154.8%—+343.8% +73.0%
3 years, per year +36.6%—+64.4% +20.1%
5 years +201.4%—+599.8% +61.9%
5 years, per year +24.7%—+47.6% +10.1%
10 years +656.3%—+1,447.5% +258.6%
10 years, per year +22.4%—+31.5% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureCATCEPLHWMSPY
Volatility, 1Y 40.6%111.5%36.2% 12.8%
Downside volatility, 1Y 43.1%120.3%36.7% 12.8%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.913.581.07 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.15—0.09 0.80
Max drawdown, 5Y -42.4%-78.5%-36.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -42.4%-78.5%-27.3% -3.5%
52-week high $1,064.90$11.88$292.71 $779.14
52-week low $546.13$2.55$185.88 $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.

MultipleCATCEPLHWM
P/E now vs peer median 26.0xmedian 25.6x 24.5xmedian 29.1x 41.3xmedian 26.9x
P/S now vs peer median 3.8xmedian 1.9x 0.8xmedian 2.3x 8.7xmedian 2.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 20.7xmedian 14.4x 8.1xmedian 18.5x 29.2xmedian 14.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 31.4xmedian 22.5x 28.9xmedian 28.9x 43.9xmedian 27.6x
P/B now vs peer median 14.5xmedian 2.2x -1.8xmedian 1.8x 14.7xmedian 2.5x
PEG now vs peer median 2.00median 1.36 0.89median 0.81 0.83median 0.91

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 monthsCATCEPLHWM
Revenue $74.73B $103.06M $9.73B
Gross profit $25.66B $35.07M $3.56B
Operating income $13.09B $4.53M $2.73B
Net income $10.84B $3.56M $2.05B
Free cash flow $8.99B $2.87M $1.93B
R&D $2.27B $4.03M $38.00M
EPS (diluted) $23.45 $0.10 $5.13
Cash & equivalents $6.71B $32.30M $507.00M
Total debt $45.15B $25.34M $4.83B
Shares (diluted) 462.50M 34.34M 400.00M
Enterprise value $253.70B $73.85M $80.50B

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
MetricCATCEPLHWM
P/E 26.0x 24.5x 41.3x
P/FCF 31.4x 28.9x 43.9x
P/Operating cash flow 20.8x 18.5x 35.3x
P/S 3.8x 0.8x 8.7x
P/B 14.5x -1.8x 14.7x
P/Tangible book 14.9x -1.6x 17.3x
EV/EBITDA 20.7x 8.1x 29.2x
EV/EBIT 24.5x 16.8x 32.6x
EV/Revenue 4.3x 0.7x 9.2x
EV/FCF 35.6x 26.5x 46.2x
EV/Operating cash flow 23.6x 17.0x 37.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 2.00 0.89 0.83

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCATCEPLHWM
Revenue growth (1Y) 18.4% 5.4% 22.0%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 4.9% 9.3% 14.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 11.7% 29.5% 33.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 5.6% 52.0% 26.3%
Operating income growth (1Y) 13.7% 305.8% 36.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 7.7% 30.7% 35.5%
Net income growth (1Y) 14.9% 190.1% 41.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 9.0% 28.8% 47.5%
EPS growth (1Y) 17.1% 151.0% 43.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 13.0% 27.5% 49.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 19.3% 11.9% 40.3%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 10.6% 35.5% 38.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 16.2% -8.6% 50.9%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 7.4% 29.3% 41.0%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCATCEPLHWM
Gross margin 34.3% 34.0% 36.6%
EBITDA margin 20.7% 9.1% 31.4%
Operating margin 17.5% 4.4% 28.1%
Pretax margin 18.6% 3.4% 25.8%
Net margin 14.5% 3.5% 21.1%
FCF margin 12.0% 2.8% 19.8%
Operating cash flow margin 18.2% 4.3% 24.7%
Return on equity 57.0% – 35.7%
Return on assets 10.9% 3.1% 15.5%
Return on invested capital 15.9% – 21.5%
Return on capital employed 22.1% 12.2% 24.7%
Asset turnover 0.8x 0.9x 0.7x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.3x 1.3x 1.2x
Stock comp / revenue – 0.8% 1.0%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCATCEPLHWM
Debt / assets 44.0% 22.1% 36.4%
Debt / equity 2.3x -0.6x 0.8x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.5x -0.7x 1.4x
Debt / FCF 5.0x 8.8x 2.5x
Liabilities / assets 81.1% 139.4% 56.6%
Equity / assets 18.9% -39.4% 43.4%
Interest coverage 6.8x 1.1x –
Current ratio 1.4x 1.0x 1.9x
Quick ratio 0.5x 0.6x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.4x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 4.31 -10.54 8.94

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCATCEPLHWM
Dividend yield 1.0% – 0.2%
Net buyback yield 2.6% 0.5% 1.5%
Shareholder yield 3.6% 0.5% 1.8%
Payout ratio (earnings) 25.9% – 9.9%
Payout ratio (FCF) 31.3% – 10.5%
Dividend growth (1Y) 4.2% – 23.8%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 4.1% – 43.3%

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.

ConsensusCATCEPLHWM
Forward P/E 23.8xFY2026 – 41.0xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $25.79FY2026 $-0.01FY2026 $5.19FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +35.3%FY2026 – +37.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +31.4% – +31.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $84.12BFY2026 $115.36MFY2026 $10.37BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +24.5%FY2026 +8.8%FY2026 +25.7%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +1.5% +28.2% +15.9%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCATCEPLHWM
Held by institutions 72.3% – 91.0%
Institutions holding 4,060 – 1,602
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.5% – +0.7%
Institutions buying 1,890 – 908
Institutions selling 1,596 – 485
Buyers to sellers 1.18 – 1.87

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.

CATCEPLHWM
CAT 1.00 0.47 0.37
CEPL 0.47 1.00 0.21
HWM 0.37 0.21 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CAT, CEPL and HWM?

Caterpillar (CAT) is the largest by market capitalisation: Caterpillar (CAT) $282.00B, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) $83.02M, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) $84.75B.

Which stock is cheaper, CAT, CEPL and HWM?

Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Caterpillar (CAT) 26.0x, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 24.5x, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 41.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Caterpillar (CAT) is cheapest (Caterpillar (CAT) 23.8x, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 41.0x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Howmet Aerospace (HWM) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Caterpillar (CAT) +18.4%, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) +5.4%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) +22.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

Howmet Aerospace (HWM) has the highest net margin (Caterpillar (CAT) 14.5%, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 3.5%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 21.1%). On return on invested capital, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) leads (Caterpillar (CAT) 15.9%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 21.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Caterpillar (CAT) returned the most: Caterpillar (CAT) +6.3%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) +3.4%. Over five years, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) compounded fastest (Caterpillar (CAT) +24.7%/yr, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) +47.6%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Caterpillar (CAT) has the highest dividend yield: Caterpillar (CAT) 1.02%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 0.23%. Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) has been the steadiest (Caterpillar (CAT) 40.6%, Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 111.5%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 36.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) leads on 5. 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.