CAT vs TSM: Which Is the Better Buy?

Side-by-side comparison of Caterpillar Inc. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited โ€” fair value, conviction, valuation metrics, and QuantHub research signals. Updated 2026-09-23.
Caterpillar Inc. ยท Industrials
$808.99
-2.2% upside to fair value
Med Conviction Grade C High Quality
VS
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited ยท Technology
$452.00
+13.9% upside to fair value
Med Conviction Grade B High Quality
QuantHub Verdict
TSM has more upside to fair value (+13.9%). These are model outputs โ€” not personalized investment advice. See all research โ†’
Valuation & Fundamentals
Metric CAT TSM
Current Price $808.99 $452.00
Fair Value Estimate $790.88 $515.00
Upside to Fair Value -2.2% +13.9%
Market Cap $372.6B $2,344.3B
Forward P/E โ€” โ€”
EV / EBITDA 23.6x 19.2x
Price / Sales 5.0x 0.5x
Price / FCF 41.4x 2.1x
Revenue Growth YoY +24.0% +36.0%
Gross Margin 33.9% 64.2%
Operating Margin 17.5% 56.0%
Return on Equity 54.1% 39.3%
Dividend Yield 0.76% 0.96%
FCF Yield 2.41% 47.62%
Analyst Consensus Buy Buy
Investment Thesis
CAT โ€” Caterpillar Inc.
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%โ€ฆ
TSM โ€” Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the world's largest contract chipmaker, manufacturing advanced logic, mixed-signal, RF, and embedded memory wafers for high-performance computing, smartphones, IoT, and automotive customers from a base of 65,152 employees headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The business quality is exceptionally high: TTM gross margin is 64.2%, TTM operating margin is 56โ€ฆ
Accumulation Zones
Metric CAT TSM
Zone Low $593.16 $386.25
Zone High $672.25 $437.75
In Buy Zone? No No
โ† CAT Research    TSM Research โ†’    All Research