CAT vs MSFT: Which Is the Better Buy?
Side-by-side comparison of Caterpillar Inc. and Microsoft Corporation — fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals.
Updated 2026-09-21.
Caterpillar Inc. · Industrials
$808.99
-2.2% upside to fair value
Med Conviction
Grade C
High Quality
VS
Microsoft Corporation · Technology
$497.12
+41.3% upside to fair value
High Conviction
Grade A
High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
MSFT has more upside to fair value
(+41.3%).
These are model outputs — not personalized investment advice.
See all research →
Valuation & Fundamentals
| Metric |
CAT |
MSFT |
| Current Price |
$808.99 |
$497.12 |
| Fair Value Estimate |
$790.88 |
$702.35 |
| Upside to Fair Value |
-2.2%
|
+41.3%
|
| Market Cap |
$372.6B |
$3,691.4B |
| Forward P/E |
—
|
—
|
| EV / EBITDA |
23.6x
|
18.3x
|
| Price / Sales |
5.0x
|
11.1x
|
| Price / FCF |
41.4x
|
55.1x
|
| Revenue Growth YoY |
+24.0%
|
+17.7%
|
| Gross Margin |
33.9%
|
67.9%
|
| Operating Margin |
17.5%
|
46.8%
|
| Return on Equity |
54.1%
|
33.2%
|
| Dividend Yield |
0.76% |
0.73% |
| FCF Yield |
2.41%
|
1.81%
|
| Analyst Consensus |
Buy
|
Strong Buy
|
Investment Thesis
Caterpillar is the world's premier manufacturer of heavy construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas power units, and industrial gas turbines, organized across Construction Industries, Resource Industries, Energy & Transportation, and Financial Products, with 118,000 employees and a century-old brand. Business quality is high: return on equity of 54.1%, TTM operating margin of 17.5%…
Microsoft is a global infrastructure-software platform spanning Azure, Microsoft 365, security, Dynamics, Windows, GitHub and AI copilots, with high business quality supported by enterprise distribution, explicitly cited switching costs, a $678 billion commercial RPO balance, 67.9% TTM gross margin, 46.8% TTM operating margin, 40.3% TTM net margin and 33.2% ROE. Revenue grew 17.7% and earnings gr…
Accumulation Zones
| Metric |
CAT |
MSFT |
| Zone Low |
$593.16 |
$526.76 |
| Zone High |
$672.25 |
$597.00 |
| In Buy Zone? |
No
|
Yes
|