Caterpillar named Top Pick at Jefferies, price target raised to $475 from $455

Jefferies raised the firm’s price target on Caterpillar (CAT) to $475 from $455 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares as part of a broader research note previewing 2025 for the Machinery and Industrial sector. The firm is also naming the stock its Top Pick for the year. Approaching 2025 however, the landscape has changed as the markets have turned more bullish on industrial trends and with valuations near the high end of historical highs, forcing the firm to be “increasingly selective”, Jefferies states. The world is entering a fundamentally tighter period of commodity inflation, driven by years of low spending and now the need to replace Russian production with more reliable sources, the firm contends, adding that Caterpillar has historically been a strong hedge to high commodity prices, and has benefited as production is increased and new productive capacity added.