: Caterpillar stock leads the Dow’s losers after Baird turns bearish as dealer stocking decelerates

Shares of Caterpillar Inc. CAT fell 1.3% toward a five-month low in premarket trading Monday, enough to pace the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s DJIA decliners, after Baird analyst Mircea Dobre turned bearish, citing the belief they are nearing a “cyclical pivot point” that will lead to underperformance. Dobre cut his rating to underperform, a little more than two months after lowering to neutral. while lowering his stock price target to $185 from $230. The new target implied about 15% downside from Friday’s closing price of $217.01. Dobre said dealer stocking, which has been a tailwind to the construction- and mining-equipment maker’s revenue growth, is set for “meaningful deceleration” in 2023 and 2024, and margins and backlog are likely to peak in the current quarter. The stock has already dropped 10.8% over the past three months through Friday, while the Dow has slipped 3.0%.

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