CAT vs DE — Stock Comparison
Side-by-side performance, valuation and profitability for CAT and DE.
Caterpillar and Deere are both large-cap industrial equipment manufacturers in the Agricultural Machinery sector, but they serve distinct markets. Caterpillar (founded in 1925, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois) focuses on heavy construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas power units, and industrial gas turbines, and employs 118,000 people. Deere & Company (founded 1837) operates four segments centered on agriculture—Production and Precision Agriculture, Small Agriculture and Turf, Construction and Forestry, and Financial Services—and employs 73,100 people. Both trade on the NYSE and report similar trailing P/E ratios (CAT: 34.76; DE: 36.68, according to tool data), but differ substantially in capital structure and operational focus.
No overlapping price data for this period.
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Fundamentals
| Metric | CAT | DE |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $811.02 | $648.64 |
| Market Cap | $373.59B | $175.09B |
| P/E Ratio | — | — |
| EPS | — | — |
| Beta | 1.60 | — |
| 52-Week Range | $410.52 – $1073.46 | $433.00 – $674.19 |
| Dividend Yield | 0.01% | 0.01% |
| Metric | CAT | DE |
|---|---|---|
| P/E | — | — |
| PEG | — | — |
| P/B | 12.54 | 4.82 |
| P/S | 3.95 | 2.80 |
| P/FCF | — | — |
| EV/EBITDA | 20.24 | 15.51 |
| P/Fair Value | 12.54 | 4.82 |
| Metric | CAT | DE |
|---|---|---|
| Gross Margin | 32.34% | 36.48% |
| EBITDA Margin | 21.98% | 26.10% |
| Operating Margin | 16.59% | 18.84% |
| Net Margin | 13.13% | 11.25% |
| Metric | CAT | DE |
|---|---|---|
| Current Ratio | 1.44 | 2.31 |
| Quick Ratio | 0.94 | 2.08 |
| Cash Ratio | 0.27 | 0.25 |
| Debt / Equity | — | — |
| Debt Ratio | — | — |
| Interest Coverage | — | — |
| Metric | CAT | DE |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / Share | $144.89 | $164.88 |
| Net Income / Share | $19.02 | $18.56 |
| Book Value / Share | $45.70 | $96.00 |
| Cash / Share | $21.39 | $35.76 |
| FCF / Share | $15.98 | $11.93 |
| Dividend / Share | $5.89 | $6.35 |
What these numbers do not show
Deere carries significantly lower financial leverage (debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61 versus CAT's 2.33 according to tool data), reflecting different financing strategies and risk profiles. CAT's operating margin (17.5% TTM) is lower than DE's (19.0% TTM), though DE's current ratio (1.65) suggests stronger short-term liquidity than CAT's (1.37); these differences reflect their distinct business models and customer bases rather than operational superiority.
Note
A comparison is a starting point, not a recommendation, and nothing here accounts for your circumstances. See our methodology for where this data comes from.