Industrials

Diversified Industrials Distribution

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

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today46th percentile

Dearer than in 96% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 21st to 42nd percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 31st. 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 95% of quarters), which may justify some of the premium. Free cash flow yield is low (lower than in 74% 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 57th percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 67th and a low of the 45th 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 33rd (cheaper than 67% 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 49th (about the middle of the market).

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	57th	67th (median)	45th (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	46th	33rd	49th

Diversified Industrials Distribution'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 (69 quarters) and of their low (3). 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 dearestPercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Dearer than in 96% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldLower than usualPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 74% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldUsual rangeDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 66% of quarters since 1999.

Dividend yieldLower than usualPercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 76% of quarters since 1999.

Return on assets, 5-yrNear its bestPercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Higher than in 95% of quarters since 1999.

Debt to equityMost debt on recordPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. More indebted than in 94% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeUsual rangePercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Larger than in 68% of quarters since 1999.

Diversified Industrials Distribution 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 Industrials industries

Passenger Transportation dearer than 54%Electrical Equipment and Power Systems dearer than 66%Transportation Equipment Manufacturing dearer than 72%Facilities and Construction Services dearer than 75%Cargo Transportation and Infrastructure Services dearer than 81%Delivery and Logistics Services dearer than 93%Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing dearer than 96%Machinery Manufacturing dearer than 99%

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.