2 S&P 500 Stocks on Our Watchlist and 1 Facing Headwinds

StockStory highlights Booking Holdings (BKNG) and Caterpillar (CAT) as two S&P 500 stocks to watch, citing BKNG's 15.1% annual sales growth and strong free cash flow, and CAT's 16.9% operating margin with expanding free cash flow margins. Aflac (AFL) is flagged as the stock to avoid, with net premiums contracted 6.2% annually over five years, a projected 4.8% book value decline, and an elevated debt-to-equity ratio of 1.9x.

Why it matters: BKNG trades at 13.3x forward EV/EBITDA driven by aggressive share buybacks, while CAT is valued at a $404 billion market cap on stellar returns on capital and operating leverage.