One-glance verdict
Within fair range
$84.61 our estimate vs market $112.52
Wall Street consensus: $156.50 (85.0% higher than our fair-value estimate)
33% above our estimate
Fundamentals snapshot
Belden Inc.
BDC · NYQ · Technology · Communication Equipment
Current price
$112.52
52-week range
$98.00 - $159.99
Market cap
$4.40B
Balance sheet
Watch
6.81x Adequate
Net debt $995.32M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
3 Risks
3 rewards · 3 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 5.5% last year.
- Reward Returns 18.6% on equity, ahead of 20% of its peers.
- Risk Net debt grew 84.2% over 3 years.
- Risk Stock trades 5.3% above its 5-year average P/E.
What this company does
Belden Inc.
Belden makes the essential physical parts, like specialized cables and connectors, that allow data to move reliably in data centers (the buildings that power the internet), smart factories, and 5G networks. The company earns its revenue (money from sales) by selling this networking "plumbing" to installers and businesses building out our digital world. This matters because as more devices and systems get connected online, the demand for Belden's high-performance hardware grows.
How the company got here
Founded in 1902 by Joseph C. Belden in Chicago, the company started out making high-quality wire for telephone equipment. For much of its history, Belden was known as a top manufacturer of specialized wires and cables for everything from radios and early TVs to industrial machines. A major shift happened in the 2000s when the company began acquiring other businesses to become a broader provider of networking and connectivity solutions, not just a cable maker. This transformed Belden into a company that provides the complete infrastructure needed to move and protect data in demanding environments like factories and data centers.
What it actually does
Think of Belden as providing the high-tech nervous system for buildings and industrial operations. They make the specialized cables, connectors, and networking equipment that allow vast amounts of data to be transmitted reliably and securely. This includes everything from the fiber optic cables in a data center to the rugged, protected switches that control robotic arms on a factory floor. Their products are used in places where a lost signal or a network failure would be a big problem, such as in manufacturing plants, mass transit systems, and large commercial buildings.
Smart Infrastructure Solutions
This part of the business focuses on the networking gear for large buildings and data-heavy organizations. Customers like universities, hospitals, data centers, and broadband providers pay Belden for things like high-speed copper and fiber optic cables, connectors, and the racks needed to organize it all. This segment provides the essential physical foundation for reliable internet access, data storage, and communication within complex facilities. It represents a significant portion of the company's business, serving the needs of our increasingly connected world.
Automation Solutions
This segment provides the technology to help factories and other industrial sites become more automated and data-driven. They sell rugged networking equipment, industrial cables, and software designed to withstand harsh environments and ensure machines can communicate with each other and with central control systems reliably. Customers in manufacturing, energy, and transportation buy these products to make their operations more efficient and to gather data that helps them make better decisions. This is a key area for Belden as industries increasingly rely on automation and the 'Internet of Things' (the network of connected devices).
What management is betting on now
Management is focused on shifting from just selling individual products to providing complete, high-value solutions that solve complex customer problems. They are betting that by bundling their hardware with software and services, they can build stronger, long-term customer relationships and increase profitability (the amount of profit made from sales). The company is targeting major global trends like the push to bring manufacturing back to mature markets ('reshoring'), the merging of business IT and factory floor technology, and the massive growth in data worldwide. Their goal is to become the go-to partner for the essential data infrastructure that powers modern industry and automation.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q3
$67.16M
FY2024 Q4
$116.38M
FY2025 Q1
$-24.76M
FY2025 Q2
$56.88M
FY2025 Q3
$65.33M
FY2025 Q4
$121.25M
FY2026 Q1
$-63.06M
FY2026 Q2
$88.56M
Revenue
$750.16M
Net income
$68.54M
Diluted EPS
1.74
Operating cash flow
$129.22M
Free cash flow
$88.56M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$696.38M
Net income
$51.03M
Diluted EPS
1.30
Operating cash flow
$-18.67M
Free cash flow
$-63.06M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$720.12M
Net income
$67.89M
Diluted EPS
1.70
Operating cash flow
$160.39M
Free cash flow
$121.25M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$698.22M
Net income
$56.69M
Diluted EPS
1.41
Operating cash flow
$105.01M
Free cash flow
$65.33M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$671.99M
Net income
$61.01M
Diluted EPS
1.53
Operating cash flow
$82.03M
Free cash flow
$56.88M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$624.86M
Net income
$51.94M
Diluted EPS
1.27
Operating cash flow
$7.44M
Free cash flow
$-24.76M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$666.04M
Net income
$58.38M
Diluted EPS
1.41
Operating cash flow
$174.72M
Free cash flow
$116.38M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$654.93M
Net income
$53.69M
Diluted EPS
1.30
Operating cash flow
$91.68M
Free cash flow
$67.16M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $84.61 vs current price $112.52
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $156.50 (85.0% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $84.61 a share — about 24.8% away from today's price of $112.52, so the stock currently looks fairly priced.
Is it drowning in debt?
Watch
Net debt $995.3M. Interest coverage 6.8x.
Net debt
$995.32M
Interest coverage
6.81x
Belden Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 6.8 times over.
Watch
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
BDC
BASELINE
Belden Inc.
Total debt $1.34B Interest coverage 6.81x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $18.81B Interest coverage 16.24x +138% vs BDC Carries about 2.4x more debt cushion than BDC.
Total debt $1.63B Interest coverage 8.22x +21% vs BDC Carries about 1.2x more debt cushion than BDC.
Total debt $194.57M Interest coverage 4.64x -32% vs BDC Carries about 1.5x less debt cushion than BDC.
Total debt $5.56B Interest coverage 18.86x +177% vs BDC Carries about 2.8x more debt cushion than BDC.
What you should know
The case for and against BDC
3 Rewards
3 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 5.5% last year.
-
Returns 18.6% on equity, ahead of 20% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 84.2% over 3 years.
-
Stock trades 5.3% above its 5-year average P/E.
-
Operating margin compressed from 12.5% to 11.4% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
18.27x
Forward P/E
11.20x
P/B
3.17x
P/S
1.53x
EV/EBITDA
11.76x
PEG ratio
1.05x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
37.2%
Operating margin
11.4%
Net margin
8.5%
ROE
18.6%
ROA
6.0%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.97x
Current ratio
2.13x
Quick ratio
1.35x
Total debt
$1.34B
Total cash
$348.66M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$2.86B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
4.2%
EPS TTM
6.16
EPS 5Y CAGR
1.1%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$375.95M
Free CF TTM
$218.69M
FCF margin
7.6%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
0.2%
Payout ratio
3.2%
Last ex-div date
2026-09-16