CEPL vs HWM vs CAT Stock Comparison

Capstone Energy Plus, Howmet Aerospace and Caterpillar Prices as of Nov 4, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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HWM Howmet Aerospace Inc.
$213.55 -7.0% 1M +4.2% 1Y
Market cap
$80.57B
P/E
39.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$9.73B
Div. yield
0.00%
Commercial Aerospace Industrials
5 wins
CAT Caterpillar Inc
$591.25 -30.3% 1M +8.0% 1Y
Market cap
$258.55B
P/E
23.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$74.73B
Div. yield
0.01%
Heavy Equipment Industrials
5 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Caterpillar leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Caterpillar 5, Howmet Aerospace 5, Capstone Energy Plus 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCEPLHWMCATLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $86.01M $80.57B $258.55B CAT
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 24.1x 39.2x 23.8x CAT
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — 41.1x 22.9x CAT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +5.4% +22.0% +18.4% HWM
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 3.5% 21.1% 14.5% HWM
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 21.5% 15.9% HWM
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -0.7x 1.4x 2.5x CEPL
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.01% CAT
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months — +4.2% +8.0% CAT
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years — +45.0%/yr +23.5%/yr HWM
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 114.0% 36.7% 40.7% HWM
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 77/100 73/100 55/100 CEPL

Percentile Scorecard

CEPLHWMCAT

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

AxisCEPLHWMCAT
Valuation 98 #2 of 63 39 #62 of 101 33 #137 of 204
Growth 92 #6 of 60 91 #10 of 98 71 #57 of 191
Profitability 84 #10 of 57 99 #2 of 97 93 #14 of 189
Financial Health 24 #55 of 72 47 #57 of 107 17 #183 of 221
Shareholder Returns 87 #5 of 32 88 #9 of 66 63 #60 of 159
Overall 77 73 55
  • CEPL ranked among 72 companies in Clean Energy Equipment
  • HWM ranked among 108 companies in Aerospace and Defense
  • CAT ranked among 223 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodCEPLHWMCATSPY
1 month -34.5%-7.0%-30.3% -1.0%
3 months -64.9%-26.7%-32.2% -0.4%
6 months —-16.7%-36.2% +4.5%
Year to date —+4.2%+3.2% +12.4%
1 year —+4.2%+8.0% +13.6%
3 years —+345.1%+145.6% +76.4%
3 years, per year —+64.5%+34.9% +20.8%
5 years —+539.4%+187.2% +63.7%
5 years, per year —+45.0%+23.5% +10.4%
10 years —+1,474.9%+618.3% +267.7%
10 years, per year —+31.7%+21.8% +13.9%

Risk

MeasureCEPLHWMCATSPY
Volatility, 1Y 114.0%36.7%40.7% 12.8%
Downside volatility, 1Y 120.3%37.2%43.5% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 3.241.031.81 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y —0.110.20 1.06
Max drawdown, 5Y -78.5%-36.5%-44.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -77.1%-27.0%-44.5% -1.6%
52-week high $11.88$292.71$1,064.90 $779.14
52-week low $2.55$185.88$546.13 $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.

MultipleCEPLHWMCAT
P/E now vs peer median 26.1xmedian 26.4x 41.4xmedian 25.9x 25.1xmedian 25.5x
P/S now vs peer median 0.9xmedian 2.6x 8.7xmedian 2.8x 3.6xmedian 1.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 8.7xmedian 19.6x 29.2xmedian 14.7x 20.1xmedian 14.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 30.8xmedian 29.9x 44.0xmedian 26.9x 30.2xmedian 23.3x
P/B now vs peer median -2.0xmedian 1.8x 14.8xmedian 2.5x 14.0xmedian 2.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.95median 0.71 0.84median 0.94 1.93median 1.16

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 monthsCEPLHWMCAT
Revenue $103.06M $9.73B $74.73B
Gross profit $35.07M $3.56B $25.66B
Operating income $4.53M $2.73B $13.09B
Net income $3.56M $2.05B $10.84B
Free cash flow $2.87M $1.93B $8.99B
R&D $4.03M $38.00M $2.27B
EPS (diluted) $0.10 $5.13 $23.45
Cash & equivalents $32.30M $507.00M $6.71B
Total debt $25.34M $4.83B $45.15B
Shares (diluted) 34.34M 400.00M 462.50M
Enterprise value $1.92M $76.32B $230.24B

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
MetricCEPLHWMCAT
P/E 26.1x 41.4x 25.1x
P/FCF 30.8x 44.0x 30.2x
P/Operating cash flow 19.8x 35.4x 20.0x
P/S 0.9x 8.7x 3.6x
P/B -2.0x 14.8x 14.0x
P/Tangible book -1.8x 17.3x 14.3x
EV/EBITDA 8.7x 29.2x 20.1x
EV/EBIT 18.0x 32.7x 23.7x
EV/Revenue 0.8x 9.2x 4.2x
EV/FCF 28.4x 46.3x 34.5x
EV/Operating cash flow 18.2x 37.2x 22.9x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.95 0.84 1.93

Growth

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

Profitability

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

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCEPLHWMCAT
Debt / assets 22.1% 36.4% 44.0%
Debt / equity -0.6x 0.8x 2.3x
Net debt / EBITDA -0.7x 1.4x 2.5x
Debt / FCF 8.8x 2.5x 5.0x
Liabilities / assets 139.4% 56.6% 81.1%
Equity / assets -39.4% 43.4% 18.9%
Interest coverage 1.1x – 6.8x
Current ratio 1.0x 1.9x 1.4x
Quick ratio 0.6x 0.7x 0.5x
Cash ratio 0.4x 0.2x 0.2x
Altman Z-score -10.52 8.96 4.24

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCEPLHWMCAT
Dividend yield – 0.2% 1.1%
Net buyback yield 0.4% 1.5% 2.7%
Shareholder yield 0.4% 1.8% 3.7%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 9.9% 25.9%
Payout ratio (FCF) – 10.5% 31.3%
Dividend growth (1Y) – 23.8% 4.2%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 43.3% 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.

ConsensusCEPLHWMCAT
Forward P/E – 41.1xFY2026 22.9xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $-0.01FY2026 $5.19FY2026 $25.79FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – +37.7%FY2026 +35.3%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after – +31.2% +31.4%
Revenue, next fiscal year $115.36MFY2026 $10.37BFY2026 $84.12BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +8.8%FY2026 +25.7%FY2026 +24.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +28.2% +15.9% +1.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCEPLHWMCAT
Held by institutions – 91.0% 72.3%
Institutions holding – 1,602 4,063
Change in shares held, QoQ – +0.7% +0.6%
Institutions buying – 908 1,892
Institutions selling – 485 1,597
Buyers to sellers – 1.87 1.18

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.

CEPLHWMCAT
CEPL 1.00 0.26 0.49
HWM 0.26 1.00 0.38
CAT 0.49 0.38 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CEPL, HWM and CAT?

Caterpillar (CAT) is the largest by market capitalisation: Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) $86.01M, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) $80.57B, Caterpillar (CAT) $258.55B.

Which stock is cheaper, CEPL, HWM and CAT?

Caterpillar (CAT) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 24.1x, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 39.2x, Caterpillar (CAT) 23.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Caterpillar (CAT) is cheapest (Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 41.1x, Caterpillar (CAT) 22.9x). 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: Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) +5.4%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) +22.0%, Caterpillar (CAT) +18.4%.

Which company is more profitable?

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

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Caterpillar (CAT) returned the most: Howmet Aerospace (HWM) +4.2%, Caterpillar (CAT) +8.0%. Over five years, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) compounded fastest (Howmet Aerospace (HWM) +45.0%/yr, Caterpillar (CAT) +23.5%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Caterpillar (CAT) has the highest dividend yield: Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 0.00%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 0.00%, Caterpillar (CAT) 0.01%. Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) has been the steadiest (Capstone Energy Plus (CEPL) 114.0%, Howmet Aerospace (HWM) 36.7%, Caterpillar (CAT) 40.7%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

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 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.