Technology

Commercial Electronics

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

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today46th percentile

Cheaper than in 95% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 50th to 67th percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 59th. 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 cheap against its own past, and returns on assets are strong (higher than in 84% of quarters), so it isn't cheap because returns are depressed. Free cash flow yield is in its usual range. 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 61st percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 52nd and a low of the 33rd 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 rise: from the 46th percentile today (about the middle of the market) to around the 59th (dearer than 59% 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 63rd (dearer than 63% of investable US stocks).

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	61st	52nd (median)	33rd (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	46th	59th	63rd

Commercial Electronics'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 (73 quarters) and of their low (11). 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 MultipleNear its cheapestPercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Cheaper than in 95% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldUsual rangePercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 64% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldUsual rangeDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 69% 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 84% of quarters since 1999.

Debt to equityMost debt on recordPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. More indebted than in 95% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeLarger than usualPercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Larger than in 87% of quarters since 1999.

Commercial Electronics 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 Technology industries

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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.