CAT vs FSS vs GEV Stock Comparison

Caterpillar, Federal Signal and GE Vernova 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
$256.79B
P/E
21.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$77.77B
Div. yield
0.01%
Heavy Equipment Industrials
4 wins
FSS Federal Signal Corp /De/
$112.03 -5.2% 1M -0.9% 1Y
Market cap
$6.90B
P/E
23.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.55B
Div. yield
0.01%
Heavy Equipment Industrials
2 wins
GEV GE Vernova Inc.
$772.71 -24.9% 1M +38.1% 1Y
Market cap
$206.05B
P/E
19.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$44.04B
Div. yield
–
Power Equipment Industrials
6 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

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

QuestionCATFSSGEVLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $256.79B $6.90B $206.05B CAT
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 21.7x 23.2x 19.9x GEV
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 21.5x 22.7x — CAT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +20.3% +24.0% +16.9% FSS
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 15.2% 11.7% 23.5% GEV
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 16.8% 16.0% 18.1% GEV
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.2x 0.7x -3.3x GEV
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.01% 0.00% CAT
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -2.8% -0.9% +38.1% GEV
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +21.9%/yr +19.3%/yr — CAT
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 41.1% 33.6% 55.4% FSS
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 57/100 77/100 82/100 GEV

Percentile Scorecard

CATFSSGEV

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

AxisCATFSSGEV
Valuation 37 #129 of 204 56 #91 of 204 69 #20 of 63
Growth 73 #52 of 191 93 #15 of 191 97 #3 of 60
Profitability 92 #16 of 189 89 #22 of 189 93 #5 of 57
Financial Health 19 #180 of 221 79 #48 of 221 56 #32 of 72
Shareholder Returns 64 #58 of 159 67 #53 of 159 97 #2 of 30
Overall 57 77 82
  • CAT ranked among 223 companies in Machinery
  • FSS ranked among 223 companies in Machinery
  • GEV 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

PeriodCATFSSGEVSPY
1 month -35.9%-5.2%-24.9% -5.9%
3 months -35.4%-12.3%-22.7% -4.6%
6 months -38.2%-7.0%-26.1% +0.2%
Year to date -3.4%+3.2%+18.2% +7.5%
1 year -2.8%-0.9%+38.1% +8.2%
3 years +132.3%+73.7%— +68.3%
3 years, per year +32.5%+20.2%— +19.0%
5 years +168.8%+142.0%— +56.5%
5 years, per year +21.9%+19.3%— +9.4%
10 years +572.4%+810.8%— +251.5%
10 years, per year +21.0%+24.7%— +13.4%

Risk

MeasureCATFSSGEVSPY
Volatility, 1Y 41.1%33.6%55.4% 13.6%
Downside volatility, 1Y 44.3%33.1%56.4% 14.2%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.771.171.97 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.07-0.030.69 0.60
Max drawdown, 5Y -48.0%-33.3%-38.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -48.0%-16.2%-34.2% -5.9%
52-week high $1,064.90$133.73$1,174.86 $779.14
52-week low $546.13$104.77$550.17 $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.

MultipleCATFSSGEV
P/E now vs peer median 21.5xmedian 23.4x 23.0xmedian 23.4x 19.8xmedian 25.0x
P/S now vs peer median 3.3xmedian 1.7x 2.7xmedian 1.7x 4.6xmedian 2.3x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 17.4xmedian 13.4x 14.1xmedian 13.4x 44.8xmedian 18.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median 26.3xmedian 21.9x 18.7xmedian 21.9x 11.9xmedian 28.3x
P/B now vs peer median 11.8xmedian 2.1x 4.3xmedian 2.1x 16.3xmedian 1.8x
PEG now vs peer median 1.65median 1.02 0.86median 1.02 —median 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 monthsCATFSSGEV
Revenue $77.77B $2.55B $44.04B
Gross profit $27.05B $741.70M $9.57B
Operating income $14.25B $412.80M $2.83B
Net income $11.83B $296.90M $10.37B
Free cash flow $9.62B $365.10M $17.12B
R&D $2.31B – $1.36B
EPS (diluted) $25.67 $4.83 $38.69
Cash & equivalents $7.93B $73.70M $16.76B
Total debt $45.20B $420.30M $2.80B
Shares (diluted) 460.90M 61.50M 268.00M
Enterprise value $228.09B $6.63B $157.15B

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
MetricCATFSSGEV
P/E 21.5x 23.0x 19.8x
P/FCF 26.3x 18.7x 11.9x
P/Operating cash flow 17.9x 17.0x 10.6x
P/S 3.3x 2.7x 4.6x
P/B 11.8x 4.3x 16.3x
P/Tangible book 12.0x 5.7x 25.0x
EV/EBITDA 17.4x 14.1x 44.8x
EV/EBIT 20.4x 17.4x 67.4x
EV/Revenue 3.7x 2.8x 4.3x
EV/FCF 30.2x 19.7x 11.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 20.5x 17.8x 9.9x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 1.65 0.86 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCATFSSGEV
Revenue growth (1Y) 20.3% 24.0% 16.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 5.3% 15.2% –
Gross profit growth (1Y) 18.1% 24.8% 30.5%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 5.2% 20.2% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 24.9% 26.0% 104.9%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 7.4% 25.7% –
Net income growth (1Y) 27.6% 25.9% 504.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 9.1% 26.8% –
EPS growth (1Y) 30.3% 25.7% 524.3%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 13.0% 26.7% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 22.9% 62.4% 460.4%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 6.9% 45.6% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 27.2% 66.2% 592.1%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 3.5% 53.2% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCATFSSGEV
Gross margin 34.8% 29.1% 21.7%
EBITDA margin 21.4% 19.9% 9.7%
Operating margin 18.3% 16.2% 6.4%
Pretax margin 19.3% 15.2% 20.2%
Net margin 15.2% 11.7% 23.5%
FCF margin 12.4% 14.3% 38.9%
Operating cash flow margin 18.2% 15.8% 43.6%
Return on equity 57.9% 19.2% 80.8%
Return on assets 11.3% 12.1% 12.4%
Return on invested capital 16.8% 16.0% 18.1%
Return on capital employed 22.3% 19.2% 13.4%
Asset turnover 0.7x 1.0x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 1.4x 1.9x
Stock comp / revenue – 0.6% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCATFSSGEV
Debt / assets 42.3% 17.1% 3.2%
Debt / equity 2.1x 0.3x 0.2x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.2x 0.7x -3.3x
Debt / FCF 4.7x 1.2x 0.2x
Liabilities / assets 79.9% 35.7% 85.5%
Equity / assets 20.1% 64.3% 14.5%
Interest coverage 7.2x 17.9x 13.0x
Current ratio 1.4x 3.0x 0.8x
Quick ratio 0.5x 1.3x 0.6x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.3x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 4.10 7.43 2.34

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCATFSSGEV
Dividend yield 1.1% 0.5% 0.3%
Net buyback yield 3.2% 0.0% 3.1%
Shareholder yield 4.4% 0.5% 3.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) 24.1% 12.1% –
Payout ratio (FCF) 29.7% 9.9% –
Dividend growth (1Y) 4.8% 9.4% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 4.2% 15.9% –

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.

ConsensusCATFSSGEV
Forward P/E 21.5xFY2026 22.7xFY2026 –
EPS, next fiscal year $25.73FY2026 $4.94FY2026 –
EPS growth, next FY +35.0%FY2026 +16.8%FY2026 –
EPS growth, the year after +30.7% +9.9% –
Revenue, next fiscal year $83.62BFY2026 $2.78BFY2026 –
Revenue growth, next FY +23.7%FY2026 +27.6%FY2026 –
Revenue growth, the year after +1.8% -4.9% –

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCATFSSGEV
Held by institutions 72.3% 100.0% 79.1%
Institutions holding 4,063 476 3,422
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.6% +3.9% +4.0%
Institutions buying 1,892 251 1,955
Institutions selling 1,597 152 985
Buyers to sellers 1.18 1.65 1.98

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.

CATFSSGEV
CAT 1.00 0.50 0.66
FSS 0.50 1.00 0.37
GEV 0.66 0.37 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CAT, FSS and GEV?

Caterpillar (CAT) is the largest by market capitalisation: Caterpillar (CAT) $256.79B, Federal Signal (FSS) $6.90B, GE Vernova (GEV) $206.05B.

Which stock is cheaper, CAT, FSS and GEV?

GE Vernova (GEV) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Caterpillar (CAT) 21.7x, Federal Signal (FSS) 23.2x, GE Vernova (GEV) 19.9x). On next year's consensus earnings, Caterpillar (CAT) is cheapest (Caterpillar (CAT) 21.5x, Federal Signal (FSS) 22.7x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Federal Signal (FSS) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Caterpillar (CAT) +20.3%, Federal Signal (FSS) +24.0%, GE Vernova (GEV) +16.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

GE Vernova (GEV) has the highest net margin (Caterpillar (CAT) 15.2%, Federal Signal (FSS) 11.7%, GE Vernova (GEV) 23.5%). On return on invested capital, GE Vernova (GEV) leads (Caterpillar (CAT) 16.8%, Federal Signal (FSS) 16.0%, GE Vernova (GEV) 18.1%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year GE Vernova (GEV) returned the most: Caterpillar (CAT) -2.8%, Federal Signal (FSS) -0.9%, GE Vernova (GEV) +38.1%. Over five years, Caterpillar (CAT) compounded fastest (Caterpillar (CAT) +21.9%/yr, Federal Signal (FSS) +19.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Caterpillar (CAT) has the highest dividend yield: Caterpillar (CAT) 0.01%, Federal Signal (FSS) 0.01%, GE Vernova (GEV) 0.00%. GE Vernova (GEV) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Federal Signal (FSS) has been the steadiest (Caterpillar (CAT) 41.1%, Federal Signal (FSS) 33.6%, GE Vernova (GEV) 55.4%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CAT, FSS and GEV?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, GE Vernova (GEV) 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.