PH vs CAT Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Compare Parker Hannifin's diversified motion and control components against Caterpillar's construction and mining equipment scale.
Use this Parker Hannifin vs Caterpillar comparison to evaluate the key differences across valuation, growth, profitability, and risk before making an investment decision.
CAT holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. CAT leads on both 1-year return (+96.07%) and forward P/E quality (24.75x vs 25.39x for PH), a relatively favorable combination of momentum and valuation. On fundamentals, CAT is growing revenue faster (24.00%), while PH maintains the higher operating margin (23.46%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for CAT (+21.91%) than for PH (+16.68%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
| Metric | PH | CAT |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 62.4 | 69.1 |
| AI ranki | #113 | #45 |
| Latest closei | $962.59 | $813.94 |
| 1M returni | -3.44% | -6.56% |
| 6M returni | -0.29% | +15.28% |
| 1Y returni | +28.60% | +96.07% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | PH | CAT |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $12.72K (+27.2%) started 2025-09-04 | $19.37K (+93.7%) started 2025-09-04 |
| 5Y ago | $36.92K (+269.2%) started 2021-09-07 | $45.38K (+353.8%) started 2021-09-07 |
| 10Y ago | $104K (+940.0%) started 2016-09-06 | $153.21K (+1432.1%) started 2016-09-06 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | PH | CAT |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $125.42B | $367.85B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 34.96 | 34.48 |
| Forward P/Ei | 25.39 | 24.75 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | 2.63 |
| EV/Revenuei | 6.22 | 5.45 |
| Analyst targeti | $1,160.95 | $975.61 |
| Target upsidei | +16.68% | +21.91% |
| Metric | PH | CAT |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 9.80% | 24.00% |
| Earnings growthi | 19.30% | 68.20% |
| EPS growthi | +19.30% | +68.20% |
| FCF margini | +13.78% | +6.76% |
| Operating margini | 23.46% | 22.18% |
| Profit margini | 16.97% | 14.51% |
| ROIC proxyi | 25.08% | 56.97% |
| Return on equityi | 25.08% | 56.97% |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.80% | 0.80% |
| Betai | 1.13 | 1.60 |
| Debt/equityi | 56.66 | 232.78 |
| Current ratioi | 1.26 | 1.37 |
| Quick ratioi | 0.67 | 0.78 |
Over the past year, PH and CAT have moved moderately in the same direction (correlation of 0.49), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | PH | CAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +27.17% | +93.69% |
| CAGRi | +27.21% | +93.88% | |
| Volatilityi | 26.30% | 39.57% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.87 | 1.76 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.36 | 2.80 | |
| Max drawdowni | 19.52% | 26.83% | |
| Current drawdowni | 10.36% | 23.57% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 5.04% | 5.99% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 7.11% | 9.38% | |
| Max daily dropi | 4.32% | 6.91% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 10.94% | 11.99% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +249.90% | +320.65% |
| CAGRi | +28.52% | +33.35% | |
| Volatilityi | 28.86% | 31.78% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.86 | 0.93 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.30 | 1.40 | |
| Max drawdowni | 28.64% | 34.05% | |
| Current drawdowni | 10.36% | 23.57% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 6.72% | 8.59% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 9.42% | 11.43% | |
| Max daily dropi | 11.49% | 8.64% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 14.00% | 17.13% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +797.24% | +1119.41% |
| CAGRi | +24.55% | +28.43% | |
| Volatilityi | 31.73% | 31.46% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.71 | 0.81 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.04 | 1.19 | |
| Max drawdowni | 54.68% | 43.36% | |
| Current drawdowni | 10.36% | 23.57% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 8.42% | 10.57% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 11.95% | 13.82% | |
| Max daily dropi | 16.69% | 14.28% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 30.59% | 24.36% |
| Category | PH | CAT |
|---|---|---|
| Company | PH | CAT |
| Sector | Industrials | Industrials |
| Industry | Specialty Industrial Machinery | Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery |
| Core business | Parker-Hannifin Corporation engages in the manufacture and sale of motion and control technologies and systems for aerospace and defense, in-plant and industrial equipment, transportation, off-highway, energy, and HVAC… | Caterpillar Inc. provides construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives in the United States and internationally. |
Want deeper AI forecasts?
This comparison page is public and free forever. Subscribers can unlock saved watchlists, full AI rankings, detailed forecasts, and interactive analysis tools.
Full valuation workup with AI Score, Monte Carlo forecast, and bull/bear case — free preview, premium data from $3.99.