One of the most difficult parts of trading is timing the markets, although in a bull market this is less of a problem. But it can be particularly difficult calling the market bottom in the middle of a bear market. 24/7 Wall St. is looking back to when the S&P 500 bottomed back in March 2009 to see how some of the major blue chips have fared since then.

Back on March 6, 2009, the S&P 500 bottomed out at 666.79, and from there began perhaps the biggest bull market of the modern era. At the most recent close, the S&P 500 was at 2,747.30, more than quadrupling its bottom nearly nine years ago.

So how does Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) compare?

On an adjusted close basis, Caterpillar closed March 6, 2009, at $17.89 a share, or at $23.23 on an unadjusted basis. Caterpillar closed Tuesday at $161.26 on an adjusted basis.

Caterpillar’s growth over this nine-year period was very impressive, with shares gaining just over 800%.

So if you had invested $1,000 in Caterpillar back then, you would have $9,013.97 as of Tuesday’s close.
Over the past 52 weeks, Caterpillar has outperformed the broad markets, with its shares up about 65%. However, in just 2018 alone, Caterpillar is up about 2%.

Shares of Caterpillar were last seen trading at $156.65, with a consensus analyst price target of $179.82 and a 52-week range of $90.34 to $173.24.

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