One-glance verdict
$41.08 our estimate vs market $59.86
Wall Street consensus: $65.67 (59.8% higher than our fair-value estimate)
46% above our estimate
Fundamentals snapshot
AIN · NYQ · Consumer Cyclical · Textile Manufacturing
Current price
$59.86
52-week range
$41.15 - $77.00
Market cap
$1.70B
One-glance verdict
Wall Street consensus: $65.67 (59.8% higher than our fair-value estimate)
46% above our estimate
Balance sheet
Net debt $373.32M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
What this company does
Albany International runs two very different businesses: it creates massive, specialized fabrics for machines that produce paper and textiles, and it also manufactures advanced, lightweight parts for airplane engines and frames. The majority of its sales come from the machine fabrics business, which provides a steady stream of recurring revenue (predictable income from customers who must regularly replace these parts as they wear out). This reliable income from the fabrics division helps fund its high-tech aerospace parts business, which offers potential for future growth.
Albany International started in 1895 as the Albany Felt Company, making specialized fabrics for the many paper mills in its region. For much of its history, the company grew by expanding globally and acquiring other companies in the same industry. A major turning point came in 1969 when, to avoid a hostile takeover, it merged with two other firms and became Albany International, the first company in the world to provide all the different fabrics paper machines need. More recently, it expanded into advanced materials, acquiring companies to build a second major business in high-tech composites (strong, lightweight materials) for the aerospace industry. This led to the company's current structure, which focuses on these two core businesses.
Albany International is a tale of two very different businesses that both grew from the same expertise in advanced fabrics. One part of the company is the world's leading producer of huge, custom-designed fabric belts that are essential for making paper, cardboard, and tissue. The other part uses its knowledge of weaving and materials to create lightweight, super-strong components for aircraft engines and frames. Think of it as one business making industrial-scale textiles for giant paper machines, and another making high-tech woven parts for jets and spacecraft.
This is the company's original and largest business, making up the majority of its sales. It produces enormous, highly engineered fabric belts that run on massive machines to manufacture paper, cardboard, tissue, and other industrial materials. These belts are mission-critical consumables (products that get used up and need to be replaced) for paper companies, which pay Albany for these custom-designed products. The performance of these fabrics directly impacts the quality and production cost of the paper, making them a vital part of the manufacturing process.
This is the newer, high-growth part of the company that serves the aerospace and defense industries. It designs and manufactures components from composite materials, which are very strong but much lighter than metal. Companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Pratt & Whitney pay Albany for parts like fan blades for jet engines and pieces of the aircraft's body for both military and commercial planes. This segment's goal is to make aircraft more fuel-efficient and better performing by reducing their weight.
Management's main focus is on growing the Albany Engineered Composites (AEC) business to become a leader in advanced materials for the aerospace industry. They aim to capitalize on the record-high demand for new aircraft and win more contracts in the defense and space sectors to reduce their reliance on a few large programs. At the same time, they plan to use the steady cash flow from the mature Machine Clothing (MC) business to fund this growth. The strategy is to transform the company into a scaled, profitable leader in high-tech materials, ensuring the fast-growing AEC segment can sustain itself for the long term.
Price history
Earnings history
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
Is it cheap or expensive?
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $65.67 (59.8% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $41.08 a share — about 31.4% away from today's price of $59.86, so the stock currently looks fairly priced.
Is it drowning in debt?
Net debt $373.3M. Interest coverage -0.9x.
Albany International Corp.'s profit covers its interest bill about 0.0 times over. which is weaker than most peers shown here.
Total debt $450.67M Interest coverage -0.87x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $510.63M Interest coverage 10.19x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while AIN does not.
Total debt $959.40M Interest coverage 4.55x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while AIN does not.
Total debt $566.29M Interest coverage 4.97x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while AIN does not.
Total debt $588.50M Interest coverage 4.83x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while AIN does not.
Total debt $1.47B Interest coverage 4.37x This peer still has a real interest-payment cushion, while AIN does not.
What you should know
The numbers
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Valuation
Profitability
Health
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What you should know