"The Dow Jones Industrial Average offers too small a sample size for many to be an effective gauge of how well the stock market is doing on any given day. But, of course, we have the S&P 500 for that, which is more widely followed and invested in by investors. Still, having only 30 stocks in a basket does make the Dow an interesting and reasonably well-diversified portfolio that might act as a model for new investors looking to get started in the stock-picking game."
"Caterpillar ( NYSE:CAT) is a heavy-duty construction machinery company that I found to be one of the most surprising market beaters for 2025. Shares of Caterpillar are up over 56% year to date, and despite recent turbulence, the rally off Liberation Day lows still seems intact. Wall Street analysts have high hopes for the $263 billion industrial blue chip going into 2026, especially after the firm revealed some pretty upbeat targets during its latest Investor Day meeting."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average contains only 30 stocks, making it a smaller sample than the S&P 500 but still a reasonably diversified blue-chip basket that can serve as a model for new investors. The Dow has a long history of compounding returns over long periods. Broad-market ETFs such as Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTI) are up near 15% year to date. Several Dow components have outperformed those ETFs in 2025. Caterpillar has been an exceptional performer, rallying strongly and drawing optimistic analyst expectations for continued sales growth and digital-technology benefits.
Read at 24/7 Wall St.
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