Technology

Communications Equipment

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

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today63rd percentile

Cheaper than in 66% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 55th to 77th percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 67th. 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 in its usual range on the multiple, and returns on assets are strong (higher than in 84% of quarters). Free cash flow yield is low (lower than in 72% of quarters). 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?

Over-earning

Return on assets ranks at the 70th percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 49th and a low of the 17th since 1999. That is well above its usual level, so it may be over-earning, and today's multiple is likely too low on a normalized basis. If earnings normalize, the multiple would likely rise: from the 63rd percentile today (dearer than 63% of investable US stocks) to around the 68th (dearer than 68% 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 78th (dearer than 78% of investable US stocks).

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	70th	49th (median)	17th (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	63rd	68th	78th

Communications Equipment'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 (43 quarters) and of their low (13). 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 MultipleUsual rangePercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Cheaper than in 66% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldLower than usualPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 72% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldUsual rangeDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 50% 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 equityUsual rangePercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. Less indebted than in 66% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeLarger than usualPercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Larger than in 84% of quarters since 1999.

Communications Equipment 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.