Industrial heavyweight Caterpillar tumbled Wednesday as concerns about the public backlash against data center construction circulated on Wall Street. Baird Equity Research downgraded Caterpillar stock to neutral on Wednesday, citing the moratorium on computing facilities construction issued earlier this month by New York as part of an emerging nationwide trend. “[It’s] not a blue vs. red state issue; investment hurdles are emerging everywhere,” analyst Mircea wrote in a Wednesday note. Caterpillar has performed like a tech stock this year as investors have bet on ever-growing demand for construction equipment resulting from the data center buildout. The stock is up more than 30% year-to-date and more than 85% from a year ago. CAT YTD mountain CAT ytd. But pushback against data centers from state and local governments is gaining momentum across the country. The debate spans a range of policies beyond moratoria, including new laws on water and energy use, rollbacks and rescissions of tax breaks, and increased enforcement of zoning laws. “This is a recipe for further multiple compression, particularly should data center policy/regulatory headwinds amplify in the wake of the upcoming election cycle,” Dobre wrote. He brought his price target for Caterpillar down to $900 from $1,200. Despite Baird’s downgrade, the stock has been popular with analysts. According to LSEG, 16 analysts rate Caterpillar a buy or strong buy, with more than 20% upside to the stock’s average price target of $945.56. Caterpillar stock is down more than 6% in midday trading.
