ESAB · Industrials(general industrial machinery & equipment, nec) · 7 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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Esab Corp reported revenue of $2.8 billion in fiscal 2025. Of the $1.7 billion its operations generated over 7 years, 44.4% went to acquisitions and 15.3% back into the business. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 2.84 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 2 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.
Revenue, fiscal 20252.8B
Operating margin14.5%gross margin 36.9%
Return on invested capital9.6%10.4% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay196.3M6.9% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA2.1×net debt 1.0B
Piotroski F-score5/9tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
01.0B2.0B3.0B
2019
2020Revenue 2.0BOperating income 202.1M
2021Revenue 2.4BOperating income 306.2M
2022Revenue 2.6BOperating income 329.1M
2023Revenue 2.8BOperating income 404.2M
2024Revenue 2.7BOperating income 447.4M
2025Revenue 2.8BOperating income 412.2M
2019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
6 yrs
Revenue
+3.1%
+7.8%
—
Operating income
+7.8%
+15.3%
—
Net income
+0.4%
+7.6%
—
Earnings per share
-0.2%
+7.1%
—
Free cash flow per share
+6.3%
-4.9%
—
Dividend per share
+52.6%
—
—
Shares
+0.6%
+0.4%
—
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Return on invested capitalCost of capital today · 8.4%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%
2019
2020
2021Return on invested capital 9.3%
2022Return on invested capital 9.9%
2023Return on invested capital 10.8%
2024Return on invested capital 12.4%
2025Return on invested capital 9.6%
2019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
050.0M100.0M150.0M
2019
2020
2021Economic profit 22.6M
2022Economic profit 37.8M
2023Economic profit 62.7M
2024Economic profit 115.4M
2025Economic profit 40.0M
2019202020212022202320242025
(return on capital − cost of capital) × capital invested: the profit left after paying for the money used. Today's cost of capital is applied to every year, since a past one cannot be rebuilt honestly.
Return on equity
10.5%
Return on assets
4.8%
Asset turnover
0.60×
Research & development
1.5% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
21.4% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
0100.0M200.0M300.0M400.0M
2019
2020Net income 157.4MFree cash flow 269.0MAfter stock-based pay 262.6M
2021Net income 235.1MFree cash flow 215.2MAfter stock-based pay 208.9M
2022Net income 223.7MFree cash flow 174.1MAfter stock-based pay 161.2M
2023Net income 205.3MFree cash flow 282.3MAfter stock-based pay 266.2M
2024Net income 264.8MFree cash flow 303.6MAfter stock-based pay 283.8M
2025Net income 226.8MFree cash flow 213.3MAfter stock-based pay 196.3M
2019202020212022202320242025
Where 7 years of operating cash went, 2019–2025
1.7B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 15%263.2M
Acquisitions 44%764.6M
Dividends 3%58.3M
Share buybacks 0%0
Kept, or used to pay down debt 37%634.7M
Over the same years it paid 78.5M in stock.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00
2019
2020Earnings per share $2.62Free cash flow per share $4.48Dividend per share $0.00
2021Earnings per share $3.92Free cash flow per share $3.58Dividend per share $0.00
2022Earnings per share $3.72Free cash flow per share $2.89Dividend per share $0.10
2023Earnings per share $3.38Free cash flow per share $4.65Dividend per share $0.22
2024Earnings per share $4.33Free cash flow per share $4.97Dividend per share $0.28
2025Earnings per share $3.70Free cash flow per share $3.48Dividend per share $0.36
2019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
60.0M60.5M61.0M61.5M
2019
2020Diluted shares 60.0M
2021Diluted shares 60.0M
2022Diluted shares 60.2M
2023Diluted shares 60.7M
2024Diluted shares 61.1M
2025Diluted shares 61.3M
2019202020212022202320242025
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
-500.0M0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2019
2020
2021Net debt -41.2M
2022Net debt 1.1B
2023Net debt 916.1M
2024Net debt 826.4M
2025Net debt 1.0B
2019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
2.1×
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.90 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
83 days collects in 58d, stock 98d, pays in 73d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
5of 9 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✕Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforefailed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✓Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellpassed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✕Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforefailed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
2.84safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.13 × 6.56+0.82
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.17 × 3.26+0.55
Operating income ÷ assets 0.09 × 6.72+0.58
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.85 × 1.05+0.89
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-2.28below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.18+1.08
Gross margin slipping 1.03+0.54
Soft assets 1.02+0.41
Sales growth 1.04+0.93
Slower depreciation 1.01+0.12
Overheads vs sales 1.01-0.17
Profit not in cash -0.01-0.03
Leverage rising 0.95-0.31
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
Receivables are growing 22% against revenue growing 4%.
Benign
A shift towards larger customers on longer terms, or sales concentrated at the end of the period.
Worrying
Sales are being made on looser credit, or revenue has been booked that may never be collected.
Capital spending (47M) is well below depreciation (84M).
Benign
Mature assets, or a business that has become less capital-intensive.
Worrying
Under-investing: today's profit is being held up by consuming tomorrow's capacity.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
Value per share, with these assumptions$91.18discounted at 8.4% a year · 59% of it from after year 10
Type a share price on the left to ask the reverse questions: what growth, what margin or what discount rate that price implies.
What the value implies, in the usual multiples
At this model's value
Price ÷ earnings
24.6×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
13.4×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
2.3×
Free cash flow yield
3.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today2.7B
Everything after, today3.9B
The whole business6.6B
Minus net debt-1.0B
What belongs to shareholders5.6B
Divided among 61.3M shares: <strong>$91.18</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
0200.0M400.0M600.0M
2019
2020Reported 262.6M
2021Reported 208.9M
2022Reported 161.2M
2023Reported 266.2M
2024Reported 283.8M
2025Reported 196.3M
2026Projected 327.0M
2027Projected 351.2M
2028Projected 375.0M
2029Projected 398.1M
2030Projected 420.2M
2031Projected 441.0M
2032Projected 460.1M
2033Projected 477.2M
2034Projected 492.1M
2035Projected 504.4M
201920212023202520272029203120332035
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
3.1B
3.3B
3.5B
3.7B
3.9B
4.1B
4.3B
4.5B
4.6B
4.7B
Growth
8.0%
7.4%
6.8%
6.2%
5.6%
4.9%
4.3%
3.7%
3.1%
2.5%
Cash margin
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
Free cash flow
327.0M
351.2M
375.0M
398.1M
420.2M
441.0M
460.1M
477.2M
492.1M
504.4M
Worth today
301.7M
298.9M
294.5M
288.4M
280.9M
272.0M
261.8M
250.5M
238.3M
225.4M
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
7.4%
95
104
114
127
143
7.9%
86
93
101
112
124
8.4%
78
84
91
100
110
8.9%
71
77
82
89
98
9.4%
66
70
75
81
88
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
8.5%
60
67
74
81
90
9.6%
67
75
82
91
100
10.7%
75
83
91
100
111
11.7%
82
91
100
110
121
12.8%
89
98
109
120
131
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$60.53
Median$91.28
90th percentile$139.83
$50.00$100.00$150.00$200.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$73.54</b> and <b>$113.67</b>; one in ten below $60.53, one in ten above $139.83.
Does the long run make sense?
10.6×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 10.6 times that year's EBITDA.
36%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 7% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 36% on the new capital — it has earned 10% on average over the last five years.
59%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 5 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market$95,0001 sale(s) by 1 insider(s)
Under pre-arranged plans0%of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.