MeritValue

PREFORMED LINE PRODUCTS CO

PLPCdata completeness 100%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

PREFORMED LINE PRODUCTS CO earns about 10% on invested capital, barely covering its ~9% cost of capital, with a roughly flat share count. The estimate methods put fair value between $77.78 and $637.61 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$517.4M1$637M2$669.7M3$593.7M3$669.3M3
Net income$35.7M4$54.4M5$63.3M6$37.1M6$35.3M6
Operating cash flow$33.6M7$26.2M8$107.6M9$67.5M9$73.5M9
Capital expenditure$18.4M10$40.6M11$35.3M12$14.7M12$40.1M12
Free cash flow (derived)$15.2M7−$14.4M8$72.3M9$52.8M9$33.3M9
Total debt$105.9M13$164M14$124M15$51.8M16$83.1M16
Cash & equivalents$36.4M17$37.2M18$53.6M18$57.2M18$83.4M18
Diluted shares5.0M5.0M5.0M4.9M4.9M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
$962.2
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$71.39
Free cash flow it threw off
$67.45
Debt you’d be carrying
$168.17

10 shares is a claim on $962.2 of net worth that earned you $71.39 and generated $67.45 of cash last year, against $168.17 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
10% avg · 5y
FY21 10%FY22 12%FY23 14%FY24 9%FY25 8%

It earned about 10% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — roughly what it costs to fund the business, so the numbers show no clear edge.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−1% shares · 5y

Share count is roughly flat over 5 years — little dilution, little buyback. Total debt has fallen 21% — deleveraging.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.1.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $77.78 and $637.61 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story; the Graham Number is a stricter floor, not a target.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$637.61
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$52.8M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$348.58
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$52.8M
Earnings Power Value
$77.78
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$37.1M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$124.33
assumptions (1)
  • grahamMultiplier2250.0%

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years20.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $348.58
The three cases
Bear0.0%$152.79
Base20.0%$348.58
Bull20.0%$348.58

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 20.0%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-028605 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012640 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000080035-26-000007 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-028605 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012640 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000080035-26-000007 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-028605 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012640 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000080035-26-000007 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-028605 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012640 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000080035-26-000007 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-006020 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-028605 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012640 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000080035-26-000007 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012640 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000080035-26-000007 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)