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Business Services

Marketing and Printing Services

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

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today41st percentile
Dearer than in 61% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 26th to 56th percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 38th. 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 depressed (lower than in 79% of quarters). Free cash flow yield is high (higher than in 91% 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?

Earning about normally

Return on assets ranks at the 48th percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 48th and a low of the 25th 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 41st percentile today (cheaper than 59% of investable US stocks) to around the 36th (cheaper than 64% 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 47th (about the middle of the market).

PercentileTodayReturns normalReturns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)48th48th (median)25th (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)41st36th47th
Marketing and Printing Services's return on assets as a percentile, quarterly since 1999. The shaded band is its usual range; the dashed line its median.
025507510020002005201020152020202548▲ better

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 (59 quarters) and of their low (8). 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. Dearer than in 61% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202541▼ better
Free cash flow yieldNear its highestPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 91% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202581▲ better
Shareholder yieldUsual rangeDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Higher than in 63% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202566▲ better
Dividend yieldLower than usualPercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 86% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202526▲ better
Return on assets, 5-yrWeaker than usualPercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Lower than in 79% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202536▲ better
Debt to equityLess debt than usualPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. Less indebted than in 78% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202549▼ better
Company sizeSmaller than usualPercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Smaller than in 86% of quarters since 1999.
025507510020002005201020152020202523

Marketing and Printing Services stocks in the screens today

In today's screens, cheapest first. ● marks one of a screen's 30 tracked picks.

StockScreenAcquirer's MultipleFCF yieldShareholder yield

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Other Business Services industries

Business Support Services dearer than 75%Other Professional Services dearer than 93%Waste Management Services 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.