Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc (LECO)

Price$276.44Cached quoteAs of 2026-09-06 01:07 UTC

AI: Overvalued

Price checkThe shares look expensive unless strong growth continues for many years.

Using the observed quote, LECO trades at about 29 times trailing diluted earnings of roughly $10.01 per share and about 29 times trailing free cash flow. Free cash flow means cash left after running and investing in the business; it was about $542 million over the latest four quarters. A simple cash-flow model using an 8% required return and 3% long-run growth needs roughly 7.4% annual cash-flow growth for a decade to match the market value. That is possible, but leaves little margin for a normal industrial slowdown.

Big pictureDemand has turned upward, but Lincoln Electric still serves cyclical industrial markets.

Revenue dipped from $4.19 billion in 2023 to $4.01 billion in 2024, then recovered to $4.23 billion in 2025. The first half of 2026 accelerated: sales rose 11.9%, including 9.0% organic growth, meaning growth excluding acquisitions and currency. Second-quarter organic sales rose 10.1%, with volumes expanding after a long contraction. Operating margin—the share of sales left after operating costs—has stayed near 17% through the recent cycle. Still, welding equipment and automation depend on factory activity and capital spending, so recent growth should not be treated as permanent.

Business strengthCash generation, modest leverage, and steady buybacks support a high-quality business profile.

Operating cash flow was $661 million in 2025 and trailing free cash flow is about $542 million. At June 2026, debt was $1.15 billion against $242 million of cash, so debt minus cash was about $908 million, only about one year of trailing operating cash earnings before depreciation and amortization. Current assets were almost twice current liabilities. Shares outstanding also fell about 8.6% since 2020. Over the latest four quarters, share repurchases and dividends used roughly $408 million, about three-quarters of free cash flow, controlling dilution without overstraining cash.

What could change the storyFaster volume growth can justify the premium, while stalled margins would expose downside.

The bull case is Lincoln’s 2030 plan: more than $6 billion of sales, mid-teens earnings-per-share growth, and operating margins approaching or exceeding 20% at peaks, helped by automation, reshoring, infrastructure, energy and defense demand. The bear case is that recent price increases fade while commodity costs and product mix pressure margins, and industrial volumes normalize. At the observed valuation, investors need years of high-single-digit cash growth. Evidence that margins sustainably move toward 19% while volume keeps growing would strengthen the thesis; flat volumes near 17% margins would weaken it.

AI: News

Second-quarter volume inflectionRecord second-quarter sales and returning volume growth strengthened the growth case, despite near-term margin concerns.

On July 30, 2026, second-quarter sales rose 12.0% to $1.22 billion, organic sales grew 10.1%, adjusted earnings per share reached $2.93, and operating cash flow hit $254 million. Adjusted earnings exclude specified special items. Management also raised full-year sales expectations. Shares initially fell about 4.5% during the session as investors focused on roughly half a percentage point of gross-margin pressure from inflation and product mix. The later rebound cannot be attributed solely to earnings, but the report materially strengthened evidence that industrial demand had turned.

First-quarter guidance liftFirst-quarter results beat expectations and showed pricing could offset weak volumes while demand improved.

On April 30, 2026, sales rose 11.7% to $1.12 billion and adjusted earnings per share increased to $2.50. Organic sales grew 7.8%, although the quarter still included volume pressure and benefits from price and currency. The company raised full-year sales guidance, and contemporaneous market coverage reported the shares up about 4.2% that day. The importance was not the one-day move itself, but evidence that Lincoln could protect profit while waiting for underlying industrial volumes to recover.

2030 growth targetsNew 2030 targets raised the long-term growth bar and helped reset investor expectations.

On February 12, 2026, Lincoln Electric paired full-year results with its RISE strategy and 2030 targets: more than $6 billion of sales, average adjusted operating margins around 19%, mid-teens annual earnings-per-share growth, and more than $3.7 billion of operating cash flow over five years. The stock gained about 5% that day. That timing is consistent with investors welcoming the targets, although it does not prove causation. Those goals matter because the current valuation already assumes a meaningful portion of them is delivered.

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Total cash / debt

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Financial statements

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2011	2010	2009	2008
Revenue	$4.23B	$4.01B	$4.19B	$3.76B	$3.23B	$2.66B	$3.00B	$3.03B	$2.62B	$2.27B	$2.54B	$2.81B	$2.85B	$2.85B	$2.69B	$2.07B	$1.73B	$2.48B
Gross profit	$1.53B	$1.47B	$1.47B	$1.28B	$1.07B	$871.3M	$1.01B	$1.03B	$875.1M	$786.6M	$841.1M	$949.3M	$942.7M	$866.7M	$736.7M	$563.8M	$456.3M	$720.2M
Gross margin	36.25%	36.74%	34.96%	34.05%	33.04%	32.81%	33.55%	33.96%	33.34%	34.58%	33.17%	33.74%	33.04%	30.37%	27.34%	27.24%	26.38%	29.05%
Research & development	$85.5M	$81.8M	$71.2M	$63.2M	$56.0M	$51.4M	$56.8M	$54.2M	$47.9M	$44.7M	$47.2M	$43.3M	$42.1M	$37.3M	$32.8M	$29.5M	$27.6M	—
Operating expenses	$816.2M	$836.5M	$747.6M	$668.4M	$606.9M	$589.3M	$636.7M	$653.0M	$498.2M	$502.9M	$659.4M	$575.5M	$535.7M	$504.6M	$440.1M	$377.4M	$363.0M	$424.5M
Operating income	$718.1M	$636.5M	$717.8M	$612.3M	$461.7M	$282.1M	$370.9M	$375.5M	$376.9M	$283.6M	$181.7M	$373.7M	$407.0M	$362.1M	$296.7M	$186.4M	$93.2M	$295.7M
Operating margin	16.96%	15.88%	17.13%	16.28%	14.27%	10.62%	12.35%	12.40%	14.36%	12.47%	7.17%	13.28%	14.27%	12.69%	11.01%	9.01%	5.39%	11.93%
EBITDA	$816.6M	$724.7M	$804.5M	$690.4M	$542.8M	$362.6M	$452.4M	$447.9M	$445.1M	$348.7M	$245.7M	$443.4M	$475.9M	$427.4M	$358.7M	$243.8M	$149.8M	$352.6M
EBITDA margin	19.29%	18.08%	19.19%	18.36%	16.78%	13.65%	15.06%	14.79%	16.96%	15.33%	9.69%	15.76%	16.68%	14.98%	13.31%	11.78%	8.66%	14.22%
Net income	$520.5M	$466.1M	$545.2M	$472.2M	$276.6M	$206.1M	$293.1M	$287.1M	$247.5M	$198.4M	$127.4M	$253.9M	$291.7M	$257.2M	$217.0M	$130.2M	$48.6M	$212.3M
Net profit margin	12.30%	11.63%	13.01%	12.56%	8.55%	7.76%	9.76%	9.48%	9.43%	8.72%	5.02%	9.02%	10.23%	9.01%	8.05%	6.29%	2.81%	8.56%
Basic EPSper basic share	$9.39	$8.23	$9.50	$8.14	$4.66	$3.46	$4.73	$4.42	$3.76	$2.94	$1.72	$3.22	$3.58	$3.10	$2.60	$1.54	$0.57	$2.49
Diluted EPSper diluted share	$9.32	$8.15	$9.37	$8.04	$4.60	$3.42	$4.68	$4.37	$3.71	$2.91	$1.70	$3.18	$3.54	$3.06	$2.56	$1.53	$0.57	$2.47

Review official source filings ↗

Owners

Reported shareholders

Reference date Jun 30, 2026

9.89%of listed shares

BlackRock, Inc.5.39M shares · Jun 30, 2026

View holders

Top 20 reported holders of LECO
Holder	% owned
BlackRock, Inc.	9.89%5.39M shares
VANGUARD PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT LLC	4.71%2.56M shares
VANGUARD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC	4.54%2.48M shares
STATE STREET CORP	4.14%2.25M shares
NORGES BANK	3.17%1.73M shares
GEODE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC	2.65%1.45M shares
VICTORY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC	2.55%1.39M shares
Invesco Ltd.	2.41%1.31M shares
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO	1.91%1.04M shares
AQR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC	1.69%922.17K shares
Boston Partners	1.51%825.12K shares
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC	1.28%697.09K shares
Pictet Asset Management Holding SA	1.21%659.04K shares
Park Edge Advisors, LLC	1.16%631.14K shares
KEYBANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION/OH	0.98%532.01K shares
WILLIAM BLAIR INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC	0.93%506.86K shares
DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS LP	0.93%504.25K shares
NORTHERN TRUST CORP	0.85%465.49K shares
MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.	0.81%439.17K shares
WESTFIELD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT CO LP	0.79%430.68K shares

Percentages use 54.51M shares of this listed class outstanding on Jun 30, 2026.

Gray completes the 100% scale. Reported positions may overlap; holders have different reporting dates.

Source: SEC Form 13F ↗Updated Sep 29, 2026 · Quarterly data

Insider buys & sells

Jul 1, 2024–Jun 30, 2026

Buys0$0.00 disclosed value

Sells (SEC code S)23$23.01M disclosed value

Transaction	Insider	Type	Shares	Price	Value	Owned after
Jun 16, 2026Form 4	Whitehead Michael JEVP, PRESIDENT, AMERICAS WELD	SellCommon Shares	845	$274.81	$232.2K	9.3K
Mar 2, 2026Form 4	Bruno GabrielEVP, CFO & TREASURER	SellCommon Shares	3.2K	$287.14	$912.5K	30.0K
Mar 2, 2026Form 4	Bruno GabrielEVP, CFO & TREASURER	SellCommon Shares	11.9K	$286.23	$3.40M	33.2K
Mar 2, 2026Form 4	Bruno GabrielEVP, CFO & TREASURER	SellCommon Shares	2.4K	$285.44	$692.8K	45.1K
Feb 17, 2026Form 4	Ansberry Jennifer IEVP, GENERAL COUNSEL & SECY	SellCommon Shares	500	$290.38	$145.2K	18.7K

Review ownership filings at SEC.gov ↗

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Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc (LECO)

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