Billionaire Bill Gates Owns $2.5 Billion of This Dow Jones Stock. Should You Buy It, Too?
Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) is a top-five holding of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, and it's also a stock up 83% over the last three years and 176% over the last five. But what can investors expect for the year ahead for this member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index? Does it make sense to follow the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and buy the stock? Here's what you need to know.As always with Caterpillar, investors should be mindful that it's a cyclical company, so its sales tend to oscillate according to a trend. Its main end markets are construction, resource industries (encompassing mining machinery and aggregate machinery), and energy and transportation (oil and gas equipment, power generation equipment, transportation, and industrial machinery).Many of these end markets have been in good health in recent years, with commercial construction solid, infrastructure spending receiving bipartisan support, and mining and energy equipment supported by good commodity prices, encouraging capital investment. In addition, a newfound discipline among energy and mining companies encourages the view that capital spending in those industries is set for a long, moderately growing supercycle, rather than the boom and bust of previous decades.Continue reading
Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) is a top-five holding of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, and it's also a stock up 83% over the last three years and 176% over the last five. But what can investors expect for the year ahead for this member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index? Does it make sense to follow the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust and buy the stock? Here's what you need to know.
As always with Caterpillar, investors should be mindful that it's a cyclical company, so its sales tend to oscillate according to a trend. Its main end markets are construction, resource industries (encompassing mining machinery and aggregate machinery), and energy and transportation (oil and gas equipment, power generation equipment, transportation, and industrial machinery).
Many of these end markets have been in good health in recent years, with commercial construction solid, infrastructure spending receiving bipartisan support, and mining and energy equipment supported by good commodity prices, encouraging capital investment. In addition, a newfound discipline among energy and mining companies encourages the view that capital spending in those industries is set for a long, moderately growing supercycle, rather than the boom and bust of previous decades.
