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Universe/Switchgear & Switchboard Apparatus/POWL

Powell Industries Inc.

POWL · US · USD
Watchlist and comparison: planned
Market value2.26 bn USD
Industry per SECSwitchgear & Switchboard Apparatus
Price as of12 Oct 2026
Last financial year2025
Latest filing10-Q, 4 Aug 2026
Method version2.7.0
Years in the base11
Company quality, four grades from 0 to 5
Balance sheet5
Profitability4
Cash flow3
Growth5
Total points17 of 20
Share valuation, scored separately
Position in the rangeabove

The key figures

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All values from audited annual reports filed with the US regulator SEC. No value is estimated, none smoothed.

GradePointsBasis
Balance sheet5/5Net cash 475.53 m $, no net debt · Current ratio 2.1
How this grade is built
Net debt to operating incomeNet cash 475.53 m $, no net debt5/51: ≤ 5.0×2: ≤ 4.0×3: ≤ 3.0×4: ≤ 2.0×5: ≤ 1.0×
Current ratio2.14/51: ≥ 0.82: ≥ 1.03: ≥ 1.34: ≥ 1.85: ≥ 2.5Next step: at least 2.5 for grade 5
Mean 5 + 4 / 2 = 4.50, rounded 5
Profitability4/5Operating margin 19.7% · Return on equity 28.2%
How this grade is built
Operating margin19.7%3/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 5.0%3: ≥ 12.0%4: ≥ 20.0%5: ≥ 30.0%Next step: at least 20.0% for grade 4
Return on equity28.2%5/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 5.0%3: ≥ 10.0%4: ≥ 18.0%5: ≥ 25.0%
Mean 3 + 5 / 2 = 4.00, rounded 4
Cash flow3/5Free cash flow to revenue 14.0% · Profit covered by cash flow 0.9× · Free cash flow positive 3 of 5 years
How this grade is built
Free cash flow to revenue14.0%3/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 5.0%3: ≥ 10.0%4: ≥ 18.0%5: ≥ 25.0%Next step: at least 18.0% for grade 4
Profit covered by cash flow0.9×3/51: ≥ 0.4×2: ≥ 0.6×3: ≥ 0.8×4: ≥ 1.0×5: ≥ 1.2×Next step: at least 1.0× for grade 4
Free cash flow positive3 of 5 years3/51: 1 of 52: 2 of 53: 3 of 54: 4 of 55: 5 of 5Next step: at least 4/5 for grade 4
Mean 3 + 3 + 3 / 3 = 3.00, rounded 3
Growth5/5Revenue growth per year 16.3% · Operating income per year 62.8%
How this grade is built
Revenue growth per year16.3%4/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 3.0%3: ≥ 8.0%4: ≥ 15.0%5: ≥ 25.0%Next step: at least 25.0% for grade 5
Operating income per year62.8%5/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 3.0%3: ≥ 8.0%4: ≥ 15.0%5: ≥ 25.0%
Mean 4 + 5 / 2 = 4.50, rounded 5

Each grade is the rounded mean of two or three key figures, each placed on a five-step scale. Open the derivation under a grade to see, for every figure, the measured value, the step it reached and what the next step would have required.

The valuation range

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The range comes from this company's own history, not from a comparison with others. Price today 185.38 EUR, range 90.13 to 123.74 EUR. The price sits above the upper edge of its own valuation range. The middle of the range sits 42.3% below today's price. Reliability: limited, from 1 methods.

MethodTodaySeriesYears
Price to earnings12,52016–20257

Open each method to see the arithmetic year by year.

Price to earnings
YearPriceBasisMultiple
201613,351,369,8
201913,050,8515,4
20208,041,425,7
20227,031,156,1
202327,634,506,1
202474,0012,296,0
2025101,6014,866,8
heute185,3814,8612,5

Price divided by basis gives the multiple. Every row can be recomputed; if a row does not add up, this page is not built at all.

Within the sector

Too few graded companies in this industry at present to place this one.

The series of figures

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Every figure comes from the annual report of that year and has not been revised afterwards. Amounts in USD.

Swipe sideways for all columns.

YearRevenueOperating profitFree cash flowEarnings per shareSharesNet debt
2015661.86 m20.65 m-21.80 m0.7911.91 m-40.77 m
2016565.24 m15.76 m71.86 m1.3611.43 m-95.32 m
2017395.91 m-19.34 m33.19 m-0.8311.45 m-93.19 m
2018448.72 m-9.12 m-32.96 m-0.6211.51 m-48.15 m
2019517.18 m11.46 m64.50 m0.8511.63 m-123.48 m
2020518.50 m19.07 m67.23 m1.4211.69 m-178.12 m
2021470.56 m1.02 m-33.39 m0.0511.79 m-133.58 m
2022532.58 m7.22 m-6.03 m1.1511.94 m-116.51 m
2023699.31 m62.52 m174.73 m4.5012.12 m-279.01 m
20241.01 bn178.77 m96.68 m12.2912.19 m-358.39 m
20251.10 bn217.86 m154.79 m14.8612.17 m-475.53 m

How durable the advantage is

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2 of 10 points, measured over 10 years (2016 to 2025). Classification: weak.

FeaturePointsBasis
Return on capital, level0/3The company earns on average 2.9% of its assets per year as operating profit, measured over 10 years. Comparable companies are around 10%.
Return on capital, consistency0/32 of 10 years above 10%. Consistency is the real evidence, because anyone has one good year.
Pricing power1/2Gross margin averaging 18%, trending +8.3 percentage points from the first third to the last. A margin that holds for a decade is pricing power. One that melts away is competition.
Stability in a downturn1/2Operating margin averaging 3%. Tested in 2020 and 2022: 2020 4%, 2022 1%. Holding counts from two thirds of the company's own average.

What is measured is the trace of a moat: a durably high return on capital and margins that survive a downturn. The causes (switching costs, network effects, brand, licences, economies of scale) appear in no filing and are not claimed here.

Next figures

Expected on 17 Nov 2026 (estimated from the rhythm of earlier filings, ± 14 days). Grades can change after a report; the page is then rebuilt.

Required disclosures for this analysis

Produced byFlorian Maier
Completed on14.10.2026 03:58
Price as of12 Oct 2026
Latest filing10-Q, 4 Aug 2026
Method version2.7.0
Time horizonThe grades describe a state that can change with every annual report, so roughly quarterly. The historical analysis is computed over 36 months.
Own positionNot disclosed individually, see the risk notice.
Earlier analysesThe list of all analyses of this company from the past twelve months will appear once twelve months of analyses exist. This run is the start of the series.

This is not investment advice. Limits of the method, assumptions and conflicts of interest: risk notice.