Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) vs Federal Signal Corporation (FSS)
- Caterpillar Inc. CAT 729.49 −1.30%
- Federal Signal Corporation FSS 112.39 −0.95%
Caterpillar Inc. and Federal Signal Corporation are both Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery companies. Caterpillar Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $338.2B against $6.9B — 48.8× the size. Federal Signal Corporation trades at the lower P/E: 24.0× against 31.2×. Federal Signal Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 24.0% against 18.4%. Caterpillar Inc. has the higher net margin (14.5% vs 11.7%) and the higher return on invested capital (14.2% vs 13.0%). Both pay a dividend; Caterpillar Inc. yields more (0.84% vs 0.52%). Across the 23 metrics below, Federal Signal Corporation leads on 16 and Caterpillar Inc. on 7.
Valuation
Profitability
| Metric | CAT | FSS | Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 34.34% | 29.17% | 24.21% |
| Operating margin | 19.40% | 16.15% | 4.47% |
| Net margin | 14.51% | 11.66% | 1.49% |
| Free cash flow margin | 13.08% | 13.86% | 2.15% |
| Return on equity | 56.99% | 20.61% | 3.99% |
| Return on assets | 11.24% | 13.10% | 1.31% |
| Return on invested capital | 14.15% | 13.02% | 3.36% |
Growth
Health
Dividend
Size
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