CAT vs CMI vs HWM Stock Comparison

Caterpillar, Cummins and Howmet Aerospace Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
CAT Caterpillar Inc
$647.25 -21.7% 1M +10.5% 1Y
Market cap
$297.54B
P/E
25.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$77.77B
Div. yield
0.97%
Heavy Equipment Industrials
2 wins
CMI Cummins Inc
$517.69 -0.7% 1M +17.3% 1Y
Market cap
$71.27B
P/E
26.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$34.71B
Div. yield
1.58%
Heavy Equipment Industrials
4 wins
HWM Howmet Aerospace Inc.
$205.71 -10.9% 1M +1.1% 1Y
Market cap
$81.87B
P/E
39.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$9.73B
Div. yield
0.24%
Commercial Aerospace Industrials
6 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Howmet Aerospace leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Howmet Aerospace 6, Cummins 4, Caterpillar 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCATCMIHWMLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $297.54B $71.27B $81.87B CAT
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 25.2x 26.3x 39.9x CAT
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 25.1x 16.5x 39.6x CMI
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +20.3% +2.9% +22.0% HWM
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — 7.8% 21.1% HWM
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 13.6% 21.5% HWM
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 0.7x 1.4x CMI
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.97% 1.58% 0.24% CMI
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +10.5% +17.3% +1.1% CMI
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +26.0%/yr +16.6%/yr +47.3%/yr HWM
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 40.3% 36.7% 35.5% HWM
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 44/100 61/100 73/100 HWM

Percentile Scorecard

CATCMIHWM

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

AxisCATCMIHWM
Valuation 29 #144 of 203 53 #97 of 203 40 #60 of 100
Growth 74 #49 of 188 54 #88 of 188 90 #11 of 96
Profitability 77 #43 of 183 73 #51 of 183 99 #2 of 95
Financial Health 8 #199 of 216 52 #104 of 216 47 #56 of 105
Shareholder Returns 31 #105 of 152 73 #42 of 152 88 #9 of 65
Overall 44 61 73
  • CAT ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • CMI ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • HWM ranked among 107 companies in Aerospace and Defense

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodCATCMIHWMSPY
1 month -21.7%-0.7%-10.9% +0.7%
3 months -20.0%-18.2%-25.8% +3.7%
6 months -27.3%-22.8%-15.4% +7.1%
Year to date +13.0%+1.4%+0.3% +12.8%
1 year +10.5%+17.3%+1.1% +11.9%
3 years +167.3%+137.8%+371.8% +85.2%
3 years, per year +38.8%+33.5%+67.8% +22.8%
5 years +217.3%+115.8%+592.9% +67.6%
5 years, per year +26.0%+16.6%+47.3% +10.9%
10 years +671.6%+308.9%— +262.0%
10 years, per year +22.7%+15.1%— +13.7%

Risk

MeasureCATCMIHWMSPY
Volatility, 1Y 40.3%36.7%35.5% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 42.5%38.1%36.5% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.881.651.09 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.260.470.03 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -39.2%-30.8%-36.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -39.2%-28.8%-29.7% -1.2%
52-week high $1,064.90$727.59$292.71 $779.14
52-week low $546.13$428.74$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.

MultipleCATCMIHWM
P/E now vs peer median 25.2xmedian 25.8x 26.3xmedian 25.8x 39.9xmedian 26.9x
P/S now vs peer median 3.8xmedian 1.9x 2.1xmedian 1.9x 8.4xmedian 3.0x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 14.6x 14.9xmedian 14.6x 28.2xmedian 15.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median 42.3xmedian 22.2x 21.2xmedian 22.2x 42.4xmedian 27.2x
P/B now vs peer median 13.9xmedian 2.2x 5.1xmedian 2.2x 14.2xmedian 2.5x
PEG now vs peer median 1.95median 1.45 8.20median 1.45 0.81median 0.93

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 monthsCATCMIHWM
Revenue $77.77B $34.71B $9.73B
Gross profit – $8.79B $3.56B
Operating income $14.25B $3.89B $2.73B
Net income $11.83B $2.83B $2.05B
Free cash flow – $3.37B $1.93B
R&D $2.31B $1.44B $38.00M
EPS (diluted) $25.58 $19.60 $5.13
Cash & equivalents $7.93B $3.18B $507.00M
Total debt – $7.35B $4.83B
Shares (diluted) 462.50M 138.50M 400.00M
Enterprise value $297.54B $68.40B $77.63B

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
MetricCATCMIHWM
P/E 25.2x 26.3x 39.9x
P/FCF 42.3x 21.2x 42.4x
P/Operating cash flow 21.0x 15.3x 34.1x
P/S 3.8x 2.1x 8.4x
P/B 13.9x 5.1x 14.2x
P/Tangible book 14.1x 6.1x 16.7x
EV/EBITDA – 14.9x 28.2x
EV/EBIT – 19.2x 31.6x
EV/Revenue 3.8x 2.2x 8.9x
EV/FCF – 22.2x 44.7x
EV/Operating cash flow 21.0x 16.1x 35.9x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.95 8.20 0.81

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCATCMIHWM
Revenue growth (1Y) 20.3% 2.9% 22.0%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 5.3% 2.5% 14.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – 1.7% 33.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – 4.8% 26.3%
Operating income growth (1Y) 24.9% -6.0% 36.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 7.4% 4.1% 35.5%
Net income growth (1Y) 27.6% -7.8% 41.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 9.1% 2.9% 47.5%
EPS growth (1Y) 29.9% -7.7% 43.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 12.9% 3.2% 49.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 22.9% 63.4% 40.3%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 6.9% 28.8% 38.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – 103.8% 50.9%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 45.3% 41.0%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCATCMIHWM
Gross margin – 25.3% 36.6%
EBITDA margin – 14.4% 31.4%
Operating margin – 11.2% 28.1%
Pretax margin – 11.1% 25.8%
Net margin – 7.8% 21.1%
FCF margin – 9.7% 19.8%
Operating cash flow margin 18.2% 13.4% 24.7%
Return on equity 57.9% 20.7% 35.7%
Return on assets 11.3% 8.1% 15.5%
Return on invested capital – 13.6% 21.5%
Return on capital employed – 16.0% 24.7%
Asset turnover 0.7x 1.0x 0.7x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 1.6x 1.2x
Stock comp / revenue – – 1.0%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCATCMIHWM
Debt / assets – 20.6% 36.4%
Debt / equity – 0.5x 0.8x
Net debt / EBITDA – 0.7x 1.4x
Debt / FCF – 2.2x 2.5x
Liabilities / assets 79.9% 61.0% 56.6%
Equity / assets 20.1% 39.0% 43.4%
Interest coverage – 12.1x –
Current ratio 1.4x 1.7x 1.9x
Quick ratio – 1.0x 0.7x
Cash ratio – 0.4x 0.2x
Altman Z-score – 4.49 8.71

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCATCMIHWM
Dividend yield 1.0% 1.6% 0.2%
Net buyback yield – 0.7% 1.6%
Shareholder yield 1.0% 2.2% 1.8%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 9.9%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 10.5%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 23.8%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 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.

ConsensusCATCMIHWM
Forward P/E 25.1xFY2026 16.5xFY2026 39.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $25.79FY2026 $31.39FY2026 $5.19FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +35.3%FY2026 +31.9%FY2026 +37.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +31.4% +14.7% +31.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $84.12BFY2026 $35.38BFY2026 $10.37BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +24.5%FY2026 +5.1%FY2026 +25.7%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +1.5% +11.3% +15.9%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCATCMIHWM
Held by institutions 72.3% 85.4% 91.0%
Institutions holding 4,059 2,107 1,601
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.5% +1.0% +0.7%
Institutions buying 1,890 1,050 908
Institutions selling 1,595 728 484
Buyers to sellers 1.18 1.44 1.88

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.

CATCMIHWM
CAT 1.00 0.77 0.37
CMI 0.77 1.00 0.40
HWM 0.37 0.40 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CAT, CMI and HWM?

Caterpillar (CAT) is the largest by market capitalisation: Caterpillar (CAT) $297.54B, Cummins (CMI) $71.27B, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) $81.87B.

Which stock is cheaper, CAT, CMI and HWM?

Caterpillar (CAT) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Caterpillar (CAT) 25.2x, Cummins (CMI) 26.3x, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 39.9x). On next year's consensus earnings, Cummins (CMI) is cheapest (Caterpillar (CAT) 25.1x, Cummins (CMI) 16.5x, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 39.6x). 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) +20.3%, Cummins (CMI) +2.9%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) +22.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

Howmet Aerospace (HWM) has the highest net margin (Cummins (CMI) 7.8%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 21.1%). On return on invested capital, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) leads (Cummins (CMI) 13.6%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 21.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Cummins (CMI) returned the most: Caterpillar (CAT) +10.5%, Cummins (CMI) +17.3%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) +1.1%. Over five years, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) compounded fastest (Caterpillar (CAT) +26.0%/yr, Cummins (CMI) +16.6%/yr, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) +47.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Cummins (CMI) has the highest dividend yield: Caterpillar (CAT) 0.97%, Cummins (CMI) 1.58%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 0.24%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) has been the steadiest (Caterpillar (CAT) 40.3%, Cummins (CMI) 36.7%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 35.5%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CAT, CMI 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 6. 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.