Technology

Manufacturing Equipment and Services

10 investable US stocks · data to Saturday, October 24, 2026

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today46th percentile

Dearer than in 75% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 13th to 61st percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 24th. Lower is cheaper: the 10th percentile is cheaper than 90% of the investable US market; the 50th is the middle.

Is it cheap because returns are depressed?

The industry is dear against its own past, and returns on assets are strong (higher than in 89% of quarters), which may justify some of the premium. Free cash flow yield is low (lower than in 79% of quarters), so the cash doesn't support the premium. A low multiple can be warranted when returns on assets are low, and a high one when they are high, so the multiple reads best next to returns and free cash flow, each against the industry's own history.

Over- or under-earning?

Earning about normally

Return on assets ranks at the 64th percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 57th and a low of the 13th since 1999. That is close to its usual level, so today's multiple is about right on a normalized basis. If earnings normalize, the multiple would likely fall: from the 46th percentile today (about the middle of the market) to around the 22nd (cheaper than 78% of investable US stocks), judging by where it sat in past quarters when returns were at their usual level. If returns fell to their low, it would be around the 68th (dearer than 68% of investable US stocks).

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	64th	57th (median)	13th (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	46th	22nd	68th

Manufacturing Equipment and Services's return on assets as a percentile, quarterly since 1999. The shaded band is its usual range; the dashed line its median.

Percentiles among investable US stocks. Return on assets is operating income over total assets, trailing 12 months. The last two columns show where it sat in past quarters when returns were within 7.5 points of their median (55 quarters) and of their low (8). The past, not a forecast.

Against its own history

Each chart is the industry's median stock as a percentile of all investable US stocks, quarterly since 1999. For the Acquirer's Multiple and debt to equity, lower is better. The shaded band is its usual range (the middle 80% of quarters); the dashed line is its long-run median; the dot is today. Green shading marks the better end of each scale and red the worse, and today's dot takes the colour of where it sits.

Acquirer's MultipleDearer than usualPercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Dearer than in 75% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldLower than usualPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 79% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldUsual rangeDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 59% of quarters since 1999.

Dividend yieldUsual rangePercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 59% of quarters since 1999.

Return on assets, 5-yrBetter than usualPercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Higher than in 89% of quarters since 1999.

Debt to equityUsual rangePercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. More indebted than in 68% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeNear its largestPercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Larger than in 93% of quarters since 1999.

Manufacturing Equipment and Services stocks in the screens today

None make any screen today. On the Acquirer's Multiple, the industry's cheapest investable stocks are KE at the 22nd percentile, SANM at the 27th and JBL at the 36th. The dearest stocks each screen lists sit around the 12th percentile in Large Cap 1000, the 26th percentile in All Investable and the 25th percentile in Small & Micro Cap. Lower is cheaper. Percentiles are from the weekly data; the screens update daily and use each stock's latest multiple, and Large Cap 1000 takes only the 1,000 largest stocks.

Other Technology industries

Commercial Electronics cheaper than 95%Technology Consulting Services cheaper than 84%Communications Equipment cheaper than 66%Software cheaper than 65%Internet and Data Services dearer than 55%Electronic Components dearer than 72%Semiconductor Manufacturing dearer than 76%Semiconductor Equipment and Services dearer than 80%Information Technology Distribution dearer than 86%Computer Hardware and Storage dearer than 98%

Quarterly since 1999 from point-in-time data. Each quarter, every investable US stock (price above $3, market cap above $75M, average daily trading above $850,000, no OTC, ADRs or MLPs) is placed in a percentile (0-100) against all the others on each metric. An industry's value is the median percentile of its stocks. Industries follow FactSet's RBICS classification. Percentiles describe the past; they are not investment advice or a forecast.