Powell Industries Inc (POWL)

Price$179.90Cached quoteAs of 2026-09-04 16:23 UTC

AI: Overvalued

Price checkThe shares look expensive unless record orders produce several years of unusually fast profit growth.

At the observed market price, Powell is worth about $6.7 billion. Trailing net income from the supplied history is about $191 million, so investors are paying roughly 35 times recent profit. After subtracting $634 million of cash and no debt, the operating business still costs about 32 times profit. Reported free cash flow—cash left after running and investing in the business—is about $244 million, but advance customer billings boosted it. An illustrative 10% return model needs roughly 19% annual growth for five years to justify the price.

Big picturePowell has transformed its earnings, but investors should not mistake a strong cycle for permanence.

Revenue more than doubled from $471 million in fiscal 2021 to $1.10 billion in fiscal 2025, while operating income rose from about $1 million to $218 million. Trailing revenue is roughly $1.16 billion and net income about $191 million. That is an extraordinary improvement, but the earlier record shows the business can be cyclical: operating profit as a share of sales was near zero in 2021 and about 1% in 2022, versus roughly 20% recently. Record backlog supports further strength, but the valuation assumes much of this improvement lasts.

Business strengthA debt-free balance sheet and huge cash reserve give Powell real protection and expansion capacity.

At June 30, Powell held about $634 million in cash, carried no debt, and had $1.23 billion of near-term assets against $625 million of near-term obligations. That cushion lowers financing risk as capacity expands. Capital allocation has been conservative: fiscal 2025 dividends were only about $13 million against $181 million of net income, while stock compensation was about $5 million. The share count rose only around 1% from September 2024 to June 2026, so recent dilution has been modest. The supplied cash-flow history shows no meaningful share-repurchase spending.

What could change the storyThe valuation works better if backlog converts quickly while today’s high profit margins remain intact.

Backlog reached $2.4 billion, up 69% year over year, and Powell expects about $1.3 billion to become revenue within twelve months. The quarter included a data-center order above $400 million, plus roughly $75 million of petrochemical work and $60 million of liquefied-natural-gas work. That is the strongest bull case. The bear case is normalization: one project is a meaningful slice of backlog, and Powell says backlog can change through cancellations or scope reductions. If profit growth falls well below the roughly 19% annual pace implied by my valuation assumptions, the shares remain expensive.

AI: News

Record orders, earnings missQuarterly profit grew, but small forecast misses collided with a record surge in new orders.

On August 3, Powell reported $312 million of revenue and $52 million of net income, both higher year over year, while new orders jumped 158% to $934 million and backlog reached $2.4 billion. Earnings and revenue were modestly below analyst expectations. Shares fell about 13.5% in premarket trading the next morning, then recovered much of that decline and finished the regular session down 3.8%. The timing suggests high expectations mattered, but the price move cannot be attributed to the results alone.

Largest data-center orderPowell disclosed its biggest-ever order, greatly expanding its exposure to data-center power demand.

On May 4, Powell said it had won a post-quarter data-center order worth more than $400 million, larger than any previous company order. The same update showed second-quarter orders of $490 million, up 97%, and backlog of $1.8 billion, up 33%. Shares gained 9.2% on May 5 and another 8.7% on May 6. The timing is consistent with investors rewarding the new growth visibility, although broader market forces and other information may also have contributed.

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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
Revenue	$1.10B	$1.01B	$699.3M	$532.6M	$470.6M	$518.5M	$517.2M	$448.7M	$395.9M	$565.2M	$661.9M	$647.8M	$640.9M	$690.7M	$562.4M	$550.7M	$665.9M
Gross profit	$324.4M	$273.1M	$147.6M	$85.0M	$75.1M	$94.6M	$87.0M	$65.4M	$50.8M	$106.2M	$108.3M	$125.5M	$138.5M	$132.8M	$99.9M	$142.1M	$145.0M
Gross margin	29.37%	26.98%	21.10%	15.96%	15.95%	18.24%	16.82%	14.56%	12.82%	18.79%	16.36%	19.37%	21.61%	19.23%	17.77%	25.80%	21.78%
Research & development	$11.0M	$9.4M	$6.2M	$7.0M	$6.7M	$6.3M	$6.3M	$6.7M	$6.9M	$6.7M	$7.0M	$7.6M	$7.6M	$6.3M	$7.5M	$6.5M	—
Operating expenses	$106.5M	$94.3M	$85.0M	$77.8M	$74.0M	$75.5M	$75.5M	$74.5M	$70.1M	$90.4M	$87.6M	$96.1M	$92.9M	$85.8M	$97.0M	$96.4M	$83.4M
Operating income	$217.9M	$178.8M	$62.5M	$7.2M	$1.0M	$19.1M	$11.5M	−$9.1M	−$19.3M	$15.8M	$20.6M	$29.3M	$45.6M	$47.0M	$3.0M	$45.7M	$61.6M
Operating margin	19.73%	17.66%	8.94%	1.36%	0.22%	3.68%	2.22%	−2.03%	−4.88%	2.79%	3.12%	4.53%	7.11%	6.80%	0.53%	8.29%	9.26%
EBITDA	$225.1M	$185.6M	$71.1M	$16.6M	$11.4M	$29.6M	$23.5M	$3.8M	−$6.6M	$29.1M	$34.2M	$41.5M	$55.8M	$60.0M	$18.3M	$59.3M	$72.6M
EBITDA margin	20.39%	18.34%	10.17%	3.11%	2.41%	5.71%	4.54%	0.84%	−1.66%	5.15%	5.17%	6.41%	8.70%	8.69%	3.26%	10.77%	10.90%
Net income	$180.7M	$149.8M	$54.5M	$13.7M	$631,000	$16.7M	$9.9M	−$7.2M	−$9.5M	$15.5M	$9.4M	$29.2M	$42.1M	$29.7M	−$2.7M	$25.0M	$39.7M
Net profit margin	16.37%	14.80%	7.80%	2.58%	0.13%	3.21%	1.91%	−1.59%	−2.40%	2.74%	1.43%	4.51%	6.57%	4.29%	−0.48%	4.54%	5.96%
Basic EPSper basic share	$4.99	$4.17	$1.53	$0.39	$0.02	$0.48	$0.28	-$0.21	-$0.28	$0.45	$0.27	$0.81	$1.17	$0.83	-$0.08	$0.72	$1.16
Diluted EPSper diluted share	$4.95	$4.10	$1.50	$0.38	$0.02	$0.47	$0.28	-$0.21	-$0.28	$0.45	$0.26	$0.81	$1.17	$0.83	-$0.08	$0.71	$1.14

Review official source filings ↗

Owners

Reported shareholders

Reference date Jun 30, 2026

9.91%of listed shares

BlackRock, Inc.3.61M shares · Jun 30, 2026

View holders

Top 20 reported holders of POWL
Holder	% owned
BlackRock, Inc.	9.91%3.61M shares
POWELL THOMAS W	≈6.02%2.19M shares
VANGUARD PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT LLC	4.28%1.56M shares
FIRST TRUST ADVISORS LP	3.92%1.43M shares
VANGUARD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC	3.52%1.28M shares
DIMENSIONAL FUND ADVISORS LP	2.68%974.94K shares
STATE STREET CORP	2.62%955.99K shares
Invesco Ltd.	2.11%769.54K shares
MORGAN STANLEY	2.11%768.11K shares
Fisher Asset Management, LLC	2.01%731.62K shares
GEODE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC	1.84%668.8K shares
JANE STREET GROUP, LLC	1.54%562.66K shares
COPE BRETT ALAN	≈1.33%485.67K shares
JACOBS LEVY EQUITY MANAGEMENT, INC	1.21%441.46K shares
GW&K Investment Management, LLC	1.13%410.12K shares
FEDERATED HERMES, INC.	1.03%375.29K shares
UBS Group AG	1.01%367.67K shares
PRICE T ROWE ASSOCIATES INC /MD/	0.95%346.7K shares
Jupiter Topco LLC	0.90%327.67K shares
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC	0.85%308.45K shares

Percentages use 36.43M shares of this listed class outstanding on Jun 30, 2026. ≈ compares the latest reported holding with a share total from a different date; it is not a confirmed current stake.

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)162$95.95M disclosed value

Transaction	Insider	Type	Shares	Price	Value	Owned after
Jun 25, 2026Form 4	POWELL THOMAS WTenPercentOwner	SellCommon Stock	34.0K	$294.49	$10.00M	564.7K
Jun 11, 2026Form 4 · 10b5-1	COPE BRETT ALANPresident & CEO	SellCommon Stock	4.4K	$272.64	$1.21M	485.7K
May 28, 2026Form 4 · 10b5-1	Singh MohitDirector	SellCommon Stock	1.4K	$293.21	$395.8K	2.7K
May 14, 2026Form 4 · 10b5-1	COPE BRETT ALANPresident & CEO	SellCommon Stock	4.4K	$301.00	$1.34M	490.1K
May 14, 2026Form 4	Williams Richard EDirector	SellCommon Stock	140	$301.05	$42.1K	39.6K

Review ownership filings at SEC.gov ↗

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