Caterpillar and Campbell's have been highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day
Yahoo Finance ·
Caterpillar and Campbell's have been highlighted as Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Zacks Equity Research Tue, September 15, 2026 at 10:19 AM EDT 9 min read CAT NVDA ORCL CPB For Immediate Release Chicago, IL – September 15, 2026 – Zacks Equity Research shares Caterpillar CAT as the Bull of the Day and The Campbell's Company CPB as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on NVIDIA Corporation NVDA and Oracle Corporation ORCL . Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock Caterpillar is the largest global construction and mining equipment manufacturer in the world. Founded in 1925, the company serves a wide range of sectors, including infrastructure, mining, oil and gas, rail-related products, engines, and backup power solutions. The company also operates Cat Financial, a segment providing customer financing, equipment loans, heavy equipment insurance, and operating leases. Additionally, Caterpillar entered the artificial intelligence business in 2018, focusing on autonomy, physical AI, and AI models. Caterpillar has quietly emerged as an AI dark horse as a classic "picks and shovels" investment. The current AI buildout, led by hyperscalers like Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Google, is the largest industrial buildout since the railroad boom of the late 19th century. Meanwhile, according to Wall Street analyst estimates, AI spending will go vertical over the next few years. Caterpillar benefits from the AI boom in several ways, including: · Data Center Demand: Energy is currently the biggest bottleneck of the AI revolution. As a result, Caterpillar's turbines, generator sets, and microgrids are likely to be in demand for the foreseeable future. · Autonomy: Caterpillar was an early-mover in the industrial autonomous revolution. The company already has a global fleet of over 800 autonomous mining trucks, with more to come. · Mining Demand: AI data centers require a large amount of copper, steel, concrete, and silver. Caterpillar sells the machinery needed to dig up these raw materials for the AI supply chain. · Cat AI Assistant: Cat AI, a voice-controlled AI agent, allows operators to control machine functions and work safer and more efficiently. AI leader NVIDIA is a partner on the project. There's nothing Wall Street investors like more than revenue visibility. As of last quarter, Caterpillar's order backlog swelled to a record $72 billion, soaring 92% year-over-year. Zacks Consensus Analyst Estimates expect Caterpillar to grow earnings at a mid-double-digit clip through 2027. Caterpillar is consistently beating Wall Street expectations. The company has surpassed Zacks Consensus Estimates for four consecutive quarters, with an average surprise of 18.12%. Between the War in Iran and a flurry of AI headlines, tech stocks have been volatile lately. However, thanks to Caterpillar's diverse and well-established businesses, the company offers AI exposure with a fraction of the volatility of a pure-play AI stock. In addition, the stock offers investors a low-risk entry zone as it uniformly retreats to the 200-day moving average. Caterpillar offers investors a rare combination of industrial value, consistent earnings beats, and direct upside to the generational AI revolution. Supported by a record $72 billion order backlog and a low-volatility pullback to key technical support, the "picks and shovels" play offers investors a way to capture AI-driven growth. Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) stock The Campbell's Company is one of North America's largest branded food and beverage product companies. Headquartered in Camden, NJ, and founded in 19222, the company's portfolio includes brands such as Campbell's, Rao's, Goldfish, Pepperidge Farm, Swanson, Pacific Foods, Prego, Pace, V8, Snyder's of Hanover, Lance, Cape Cod, Kettle Brand, Late July, and Snack Factory. In Q4, Campbell's snack segment saw organic net sales fall 6% while operating earnings plunged 28%. Unfortunately for Campbell's, multiple factors drove the weakness. First, over the past few years, consumers have dramatically cut back on junk food and are choosing healthier alternatives (with GLP-1 fat loss drugs only intensifying this headwind). Second, with inflation running hot, consumers are prioritizing essentials and cutting back on discretionary snack food purchases. Finally, costs are rising, squeezing margins. For instance, the management team expects raw-material and packaging inflation of 5-6% and double-digit logistics inflation, driven by higher diesel costs and reduced driver availability. Additionally, import tariffs have added 4% to the company's costs. Since late 2021, gross profit margins have plunged from 32.5% to 28.14%. Campbell's management team expects earnings to remain weak. Fiscal 2027 guidance suggests 2027 will be another year of declining sales and profits after an abysmal 2026, when EPS plunged 27%. Zacks Consensus Estimates expect a similar trajectory, with 2027 annual earnings dropping 18.43%. Campbell's shares have shown troubling relative weakness, down 36% over the past year compared to the S&P 500's 16.5% gain. Even if CPB shares stage a rally, a lot of overhead selling supply waiting from bulls who are offside on their positions. The Campbell's Company faces shifting consumer habits, shrinking margins, and a stagnant earnings trajectory. These fundamental and technical headwinds make a near-term turnaround unlikely. Both NVIDIA Corporation and Oracle Corporation have benefited from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, with strong demand for AI infrastructure and cloud driving their latest earnings results. But which AI stock looks like a better buy now? Let's explore – NVIDIA's revenues reached $96.2 billion in the fiscal second quarter of 2027, representing a 106% year-over-year increase and an 18% rise sequentially, according to the company's Aug. 26 press release. The Data Center segment remained NVIDIA's primary growth driver. Data Center revenues came in at $89 billion, up 117% year over year and 18% from the previous quarter. NVIDIA also maintained strong profitability alongside rapid revenue growth. During the quarter, the company's GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins both stood at 75%, up from 72.5% a year ago. The company continues to convert strong revenue growth into even stronger earnings growth, helped by ongoing gains in operating income. Looking ahead, NVIDIA expects revenues to reach approximately $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, in the fiscal third quarter of 2027, representing 12% sequential growth from the midpoint. With NVIDIA's growth momentum remaining strong, and the advanced Vera Rubin platform already in full production, the company is well-positioned to capitalize on the next wave of AI infrastructure spending. Given its size, Oracle's revenue growth has been impressive, reaching $19.3 billion in the fiscal first quarter of 2027, up 30% year over year, driven by ongoing customer migration to cloud-based solutions, according to the company's Sept. 10 press release. Oracle's Cloud Infrastructure (IaaS) revenues reached $7.4 billion, up 121% year over year, while Cloud Applications revenues rose 10% to $4.2 billion. The expanding IaaS business positions Oracle to benefit from the increasing demand for AI infrastructure, while the company gets a stable recurring-revenue base through SaaS. Oracle further expects revenues to grow 30-34% in the fiscal second quarter of 2027 and reach at least $90 billion for the full year. Additionally, the company's $664 billion in remaining performance obligations, up $209 billion from the previous year, provides strong visibility into future growth. At the same time, Oracle's rapid growth is accompanied by an increase in profitability. The company's non-GAAP operating income rose 31% to $8.2 billion in the fiscal first quarter. Explosive Data Center growth, strong margins, and a robust outlook reinforce NVIDIA's position as a top beneficiary of the continuing AI infrastructure boom. Similarly, strong cloud and AI demand is driving Oracle's growth, while its growing backlog and improving profitability support a positive outlook. However, Oracle's heavy capital spending to expand its Cloud Infrastructure business led to negative free cash flow of $5 billion in the first fiscal quarter and increased financial pressure on the company. Anyhow, Oracle's debt-to-equity ratio of 175.2% is significantly higher than NVIDIA's 14.1%, suggesting greater financial leverage and possibly greater downside risk during economic downturns. Moreover, NVIDIA appears more efficient at generating profits from shareholders' equity than Oracle. This is because NVIDIA's return on equity (ROE) of 97.5% exceeds Oracle's ROE of 70.2%.??? Therefore, NVIDIA appears to be the better buy following earnings than Oracle, with lower financial leverage and higher profitability supporting a more favorable outlook. NVIDIA currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Oracle has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 stocks here. Free: Instant Access to Zacks' Market-Crushing Strategies Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year. Today you can tap into those powerful strategies – and the high-potential stocks they uncover – free. No strings attached. Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss.This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Oracle Corporation (ORCL) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Campbell's Company (CPB) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
AI 시장 분석
Zacks Equity Research has selected Caterpillar (CAT) as today's bullish stock and Campbell Soup (CPB) as the bearish stock. Caterpillar is expected to achieve robust earnings growth driven by a record backlog of 72.0 billion USD and benefits from AI infrastructure. Investors should pay attention to Caterpillar as a low-risk entry alternative to highly volatile pure-play AI stocks.
상승 영향
- AI — Directly benefiting from surging demand for turbines and generators for data center power supply, alongside autonomous driving technology cooperation.
- Semiconductors — Serving as a core foundation of the AI supply chain by supplying raw material mining equipment for copper and steel, which are essential for AI infrastructure expansion.
하락 영향
- Consumer Staples — Campbell Soup is facing weak demand and cost pressures, with organic net sales in its snacks segment dropping by 6 percent and operating income plunging by 28 percent.
DYAX 전담 분석
Caterpillar has significantly enhanced revenue visibility due to increased demand for AI data center power and the expansion of raw material mining equipment supply, recording a 72.0 billion USD order backlog, a 92 percent surge year-over-year. This is a key factor providing solid stock price momentum amid lower volatility compared to pure-play technology stocks.
While bullishness is expected to continue if accelerated future AI infrastructure investment and autonomous mining equipment demand drive earnings growth, raw material price volatility resulting from macroeconomic uncertainty will be a major monitoring indicator.
AI가 생성한 분석으로 투자 자문이 아닙니다.
DYAX Investor Sentiment
Bullish (Long) 49% · Bearish (Short) 51%
446 participants
Related News
- Meta launches Meta One subscriptions as it seeks to better monetize AI spending
- Tilray Brands Has Lost More Than Half of Its Value in 2026, but Here's the Bullish Case for Taking a Chance on This Highly Risky Stock
- Dollar General Warns Broad Consumer Distress Amid Persistent Inflation Pressures
- Disney Trades Well Below Wall Street’s Target. Here’s What Closes the Gap.
- Market Focuses on Sudden Surge in Mace DRC Stock Price
- Crusoe and Perplexity Form Multi-Year Partnership Spanning Full AI Model Lifecycle