Business Services
Business Support Services
13 investable US stocks · data to Saturday, October 24, 2026
Is it cheap because returns are depressed?
The industry is dear against its own past, and even though returns on assets are depressed (lower than in 77% of quarters). Free cash flow yield is low (lower than in 75% 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 normallyReturn on assets ranks at the 62nd percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 62nd and a low of the 42nd 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 42nd (cheaper than 58% 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 48th (about the middle of the market).
| Percentile | Today | Returns normal | Returns at low |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return on assets (higher is better) | 62nd | 62nd (median) | 42nd (low) |
| Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper) | 46th | 42nd | 48th |
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 (79 quarters) and of their low (4). 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.
Business Support Services stocks in the screens today
In today's screens, cheapest first. ● marks one of a screen's 30 tracked picks.
| Stock | Screen | Acquirer's Multiple | FCF yield | Shareholder yield |
|---|
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Other Business Services industries
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.