CAT vs DAN vs WNC Stock Comparison

Caterpillar, Dana and Wabash National Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
1 more company in this comparison (PHIN) Create a free account to keep reading and compare up to 10 companies.
CAT Caterpillar Inc
$647.25 -21.7% 1M +10.5% 1Y
Market cap
$290.11B
P/E
24.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$77.77B
Div. yield
–
Heavy Equipment Industrials
4 wins
DAN DANA Inc
$24.84 -9.3% 1M +15.2% 1Y
Market cap
$2.49B
P/E
2.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$7.78B
Div. yield
–
Heavy Equipment Industrials
3 wins
WNC WABASH NATIONAL Corp
$13.29 +4.9% 1M +59.9% 1Y
Market cap
$495.79M
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$1.52B
Div. yield
–
Heavy Equipment Industrials
1 win

Head to Head

8 decided of 12

Caterpillar leads on 4 of the 12 questions below (Caterpillar 4, Dana 3, Wabash National 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCATDANWNCLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $290.11B $2.49B $495.79M CAT
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 24.5x 2.4x -3.6x DAN
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 25.1x 13.1x — DAN
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +20.3% +5.1% -7.3% CAT
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — — -9.1% –
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — — -14.8% –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — — -4.7x –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +10.5% +15.2% +59.9% WNC
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +26.0%/yr +2.3%/yr -3.1%/yr CAT
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 40.3% 44.1% 57.3% CAT
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 44/100 68/100 24/100 DAN

Percentile Scorecard

CATDANWNC

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

AxisCATDANWNC
Valuation 29 #144 of 203 99 #4 of 203 21 #161 of 203
Growth 74 #49 of 188 75 #47 of 188 2 #185 of 188
Profitability 77 #43 of 183 75 #46 of 183 15 #155 of 183
Financial Health 8 #199 of 216 9 #197 of 216 9 #196 of 216
Shareholder Returns 31 #105 of 152 84 #25 of 152 72 #43 of 152
Overall 44 68 24
  • CAT ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • DAN ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • WNC ranked among 222 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodCATDANWNCSPY
1 month -21.7%-9.3%+4.9% +0.7%
3 months -20.0%-8.2%+7.2% +3.7%
6 months -27.3%-31.9%+52.9% +7.1%
Year to date +13.0%+4.5%+53.6% +12.8%
1 year +10.5%+15.2%+59.9% +11.9%
3 years +167.3%+112.5%-36.2% +85.2%
3 years, per year +38.8%+28.6%-13.9% +22.8%
5 years +217.3%+11.9%-14.4% +67.6%
5 years, per year +26.0%+2.3%-3.1% +10.9%
10 years +671.6%+62.0%+19.7% +262.0%
10 years, per year +22.7%+4.9%+1.8% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureCATDANWNCSPY
Volatility, 1Y 40.3%44.1%57.3% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 42.5%46.9%51.4% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.881.291.52 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.260.351.05 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -39.2%-69.7%-77.4% -25.4%
From 52-week high -39.2%-36.2%-7.2% -1.2%
52-week high $1,064.90$38.93$14.32 $779.14
52-week low $546.13$19.47$6.77 $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.

MultipleCATDANWNC
P/E now vs peer median 25.2xmedian 25.8x 2.6xmedian 25.8x -3.9xmedian 25.8x
P/S now vs peer median 3.8xmedian 1.9x 0.3xmedian 1.9x 0.4xmedian 1.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 14.6x —median 14.6x -10.1xmedian 14.6x
P/FCF now vs peer median 42.3xmedian 22.2x 20.6xmedian 22.2x -3.8xmedian 22.2x
P/B now vs peer median 13.9xmedian 2.2x 1.5xmedian 2.2x 2.0xmedian 2.2x
PEG now vs peer median 1.95median 1.45 0.02median 1.45 0.10median 1.45

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 monthsCATDANWNC
Revenue $77.77B $7.78B $1.52B
Gross profit – – $13.43M
Operating income $14.25B $249.00M -$157.62M
Net income $11.83B $1.06B -$138.69M
Free cash flow – – -$144.30M
R&D $2.31B – –
EPS (diluted) $25.58 $9.56 $-3.38
Cash & equivalents $7.93B $321.00M $69.29M
Total debt – – $540.26M
Shares (diluted) 462.50M 109.50M 40.99M
Enterprise value $290.11B $2.49B $279.65M

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
MetricCATDANWNC
P/E 25.2x 2.6x -3.9x
P/FCF 42.3x 20.6x -3.8x
P/Operating cash flow 21.0x 6.3x -4.4x
P/S 3.8x 0.3x 0.4x
P/B 13.9x 1.5x 2.0x
P/Tangible book 14.1x 1.6x 2.5x
EV/EBITDA – – -10.1x
EV/EBIT – – -6.4x
EV/Revenue 3.8x 0.3x 0.7x
EV/FCF – – -7.0x
EV/Operating cash flow 21.0x 6.3x -8.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.95 0.02 0.10

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCATDANWNC
Revenue growth (1Y) 20.3% 5.1% -7.3%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 5.3% -9.8% -16.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) – – -88.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – – -69.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) 24.9% 722.5% -142.5%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 7.4% -12.1% -35.9%
Net income growth (1Y) 27.6% 1,378% -153.3%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 9.1% 143.1% -37.9%
EPS growth (1Y) 29.9% 2,174% -153.5%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 12.9% 149.7% -39.7%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 22.9% 3.4% -182.2%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 6.9% -7.9% -35.4%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – – -330.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – – -43.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCATDANWNC
Gross margin – – 0.9%
EBITDA margin – – -6.6%
Operating margin – – -10.4%
Pretax margin – – -12.0%
Net margin – – -9.1%
FCF margin – – -9.5%
Operating cash flow margin 18.2% 5.4% -8.1%
Return on equity 57.9% 56.6% -49.0%
Return on assets 11.3% 17.5% -11.2%
Return on invested capital – – -14.8%
Return on capital employed – – -18.1%
Asset turnover 0.7x 1.3x 1.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 0.4x 0.9x
Stock comp / revenue – 0.5% 0.7%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCATDANWNC
Debt / assets – – 43.8%
Debt / equity – – 2.0x
Net debt / EBITDA – – -4.7x
Debt / FCF – – -3.7x
Liabilities / assets 79.9% 70.8% 78.0%
Equity / assets 20.1% 29.2% 22.0%
Interest coverage – – -6.2x
Current ratio 1.4x 1.1x 1.4x
Quick ratio – – 0.7x
Cash ratio – – 0.2x
Altman Z-score – – 1.51

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCATDANWNC
Dividend yield 1.0% 1.9% 2.4%
Net buyback yield – – 0.1%
Shareholder yield 1.0% 1.9% 2.5%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

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.

ConsensusCATDANWNC
Forward P/E 25.1xFY2026 13.1xFY2026 –
EPS, next fiscal year $25.79FY2026 $1.90FY2026 $-2.47FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +35.3%FY2026 +413.5%FY2026 –
EPS growth, the year after +31.4% +128.4% –
Revenue, next fiscal year $84.12BFY2026 $8.05BFY2026 $1.68BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +24.5%FY2026 +7.3%FY2026 +9.3%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +1.5% +34.2% +13.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCATDANWNC
Held by institutions 72.3% 99.2% 91.8%
Institutions holding 4,059 342 165
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.5% +1.8% -3.6%
Institutions buying 1,890 168 84
Institutions selling 1,595 126 61
Buyers to sellers 1.18 1.33 1.38

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.

CATDANWNC
CAT 1.00 0.39 0.42
DAN 0.39 1.00 0.25
WNC 0.42 0.25 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CAT, DAN and WNC?

Caterpillar (CAT) is the largest by market capitalisation: Caterpillar (CAT) $290.11B, Dana (DAN) $2.49B, Wabash National (WNC) $495.79M.

Which stock is cheaper, CAT, DAN and WNC?

Dana (DAN) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Caterpillar (CAT) 24.5x, Dana (DAN) 2.4x, Wabash National (WNC) -3.6x). On next year's consensus earnings, Dana (DAN) is cheapest (Caterpillar (CAT) 25.1x, Dana (DAN) 13.1x). 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) +20.3%, Dana (DAN) +5.1%, Wabash National (WNC) -7.3%.

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Wabash National (WNC) returned the most: Caterpillar (CAT) +10.5%, Dana (DAN) +15.2%, Wabash National (WNC) +59.9%. Over five years, Caterpillar (CAT) compounded fastest (Caterpillar (CAT) +26.0%/yr, Dana (DAN) +2.3%/yr, Wabash National (WNC) -3.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Caterpillar (CAT) has been the steadiest (Caterpillar (CAT) 40.3%, Dana (DAN) 44.1%, Wabash National (WNC) 57.3%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CAT, DAN and WNC?

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 4. 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.