Belden
Belden's revenue rose 10.3% to $2.7 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 11.6%, up from 10.8% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $219 million, down 1.9%. It paid out $8 million in dividends and buybacks, 4% of free cash flow. The diluted share count fell 2.6%.
Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on capital is after-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash. Market cap is the last closing share price times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate. P/E is the last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters, or the latest fiscal year where the quarters aren't available; there is none when the company made a loss.
Charts show fiscal years, from the 10-K filings.
Revenue and margins
Net income and earnings per share
From fiscal 2016 to 2025, earnings per share grew 9.3% a year and net income 7.1% a year, as buybacks cut the share count by 6%.
Returns on capital
Cash flow
Payouts and share count
Valuation
Two ways to value Belden yourself, both starting from its filings: a discounted cash flow model and the price-to-earnings method.
Discounted cash flow (DCF)
A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures come from Belden's 10-K (or, for net cash and shares, its latest 10-Q) and the assumptions are yours: start from one of three example scenarios, then change any figure to see what it implies for a share, and how that compares with the last share price.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Belden's fiscal 2025 free cash flow of $219M, net cash of −$906M at December 31, 2025 and 40 million diluted shares, from its filings. The scenarios are fitted to Belden: the base scenario's growth in years 1 to 5 is its revenue growth over the last 3 years, 1.4% a year; the cautious and optimistic ones are lower and higher, and growth in years 6 to 10 is halfway to the long-run rate. The base scenario's discount rate is 11%: 9% for a business of moderate risk (Electronic Components), plus 1 point as a smaller company, worth $4.0B, plus 1 point for unsteady results (revenue fell in two of the last five years); the cautious and optimistic ones use a point more and a point less. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $102.99
- Value on these assumptions, against the last close
- —
- Cash flows in years 1 to 10, valued today
- —
- Everything after year 10, valued today
- —
- Plus net cash
- —
- Share of value from after year 10
How the value changes with two assumptions
Price-to-earnings (P/E) method
Another common way to value a company is to multiply its earnings per share by a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple: the number of years of today's earnings an investor pays for a share. A higher multiple usually means investors expect earnings to grow. Choose a multiple, for example from similar companies, to see the value it gives.
Careful. Belden's P/E today, 16.7×, is less than half the example multiple. A gap that wide usually means one of two things: its latest earnings include large one-off items, such as a tax benefit or a gain on a sale, or investors expect its earnings to fall. Either way the examples can mislead, so they aren't set against the share price. Check the earnings in its latest filings before using them.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Belden's earnings per share of $6.15 (over the last four quarters). Each grows earnings for a year at the cash flow scenarios' rates and applies a multiple to next year's earnings: 34×, the middle of Belden's own P/E today, its peers' median and its sector's median (the Information Technology median) for the base scenario, 20% less and more for the cautious and optimistic ones. The price is brought back a year at 12%, 11% and 10%. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $102.99
- Value at this multiple, against the last close
- —
- Belden's P/E at the last close
- 16.7×
| Company | Last close | Earnings per share | P/E today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vishay IntertechnologyVSH | $26.71 | $0.18 | 148.4× |
| CorningGLW | $127.74 | $2.19 | 58.3× |
| CoherentCOHR | $221.50 | $4.12 | 53.8× |
| BeldenBDC | $102.99 | $6.15 | 16.7× |
Balance sheet
| Fiscal year end | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and short-term investments | 642 | 688 | 597 | 370 | 390 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 1,460 | 1,168 | 1,211 | 1,141 | 1,296 |
| Net debt (negative means net cash) | 819 | 480 | 614 | 770 | 906 |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 2.3x | 1.1x | 1.5x | 2.0x | 2.0x |
| Debt to equity | 1.5x | 1.0x | 1.0x | 0.9x | 1.0x |
| Interest coverage | 4.9x | 8.0x | 7.5x | 6.3x | 7.3x |
| Current ratio | 2.5x | 2.4x | 2.3x | 1.9x | 1.9x |
| Quick ratio | 2.0x | 1.9x | 1.7x | 1.4x | 1.4x |
Insider trades
Over the 12 months between October 27, 2025 and October 26, 2026, no insider bought Belden shares on the open market, and 5 insiders sold $2.9 million, $2.6 million of it under trading plans set up in advance.
| Date | Insider | Trade | Shares | Price | Value | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 15, 2026 | Brian LieserEVP - Chief Comm. Officer | Sold plan | 1,900 | $114.39 | $217,341 | Form 4 |
| Apr 14, 2026 | Brian LieserEVP - Chief Comm. Officer | Sold plan | 2,719 | $130.69 | $355,346 | Form 4 |
| Feb 6, 2026 | Doug ZinkVP and CAO | Sold plan | 1,452 | $133.96 | $194,510 | Form 4 |
| Feb 5, 2026 | Doug ZinkVP and CAO | Sold plan | 485 | $126.00 | $61,110 | Form 4 |
| Feb 4, 2026 | Leah TateSVP - HR | Sold plan | 2,954 | $130.00 | $384,020 | Form 4 |
| Dec 11, 2025 | Jonathan C KleinDirector | Sold | 3,000 | $124.19 | $372,570 | Form 4 |
| Dec 9, 2025 | Doug ZinkVP and CAO | Sold plan | 4,000 | $125.00 | $500,000 | Form 4 |
| Dec 5, 2025 | Hiran BhadraSVP, Strategy & Technology | Sold plan | 1,600 | $120.00 | $192,000 | Form 4 |
| Dec 5, 2025 | Brian LieserEVP, Solutions | Sold plan | 1,270 | $120.00 | $152,400 | Form 4 |
| Dec 3, 2025 | Leah TateSVP - HR | Sold plan | 2,554 | $120.00 | $306,480 | Form 4 |
| Dec 2, 2025 | Brian LieserEVP, Solutions | Sold plan | 1,713 | $114.13 | $195,505 | Form 4 |
Piotroski F-score
The F-score counts how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency a company passed in a year (Piotroski, 2000). The more tests passed, the stronger the year: 8 or 9 is strong, 0 to 2 weak. Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.
| Test | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Return on assets rose | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Cash from operations exceeds net income | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Debt fell relative to assets | Fail | Pass | Fail |
| Current ratio rose | Fail | Fail | Pass |
| Share count didn't rise | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Gross margin rose | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Revenue rose relative to assets | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| F-score | 7 of 9 | 5 of 9 | 8 of 9 |
| Accruals ratio | −2.4% | −4.7% | −3.4% |
Compare
Put Belden side by side with any other company we cover: revenue, growth, margins, cash flow and returns, with ten years of charts.
Similar companies
| Company | Year | Revenue growth | Operating margin | Free cash flow margin | Return on capital | Net debt to EBITDA | F-score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belden | FY25 | 10.3% | 11.6% | 8.1% | 13.3% | 2.0x | 8 | |
| Vishay Intertechnology | FY25 | 4.5% | 1.9% | −2.9% | 1.2% | 1.6x | 5 | Compare |
| Littelfuse | FY25 | 8.9% | 1.6% | 15.3% | 0.7% | 1.4x | 6 | Compare |
| Coherent | FY26 | 22.5% | — | −14.4% | 9.1% | 0.8x | 7 | Compare |
| Corning | FY25 | 19.1% | 14.6% | 9.0% | 10.8% | 1.9x | 6 | Compare |
10 years of figures
| Fiscal year | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||||
| Revenue | 2,357 | 2,087 | 2,166 | 2,131 | 1,752 | 2,301 | 2,606 | 2,512 | 2,461 | 2,715 |
| Revenue growth | 2.0% | −11.4% | 3.8% | −1.6% | −17.8% | 31.3% | 13.3% | −3.6% | −2.0% | 10.3% |
| Gross profit | 981 | 802 | 830 | 794 | 576 | 772 | 916 | 955 | 922 | 1,031 |
| Research and development | 140 | 89 | 92 | 94 | 73 | 90 | 104 | 116 | 112 | 129 |
| Operating income | 232 | 234 | 314 | 207 | 150 | 264 | 363 | 318 | 266 | 316 |
| Net income | 128 | 93 | 161 | −377 | −55 | 64 | 255 | 243 | 198 | 238 |
| Diluted EPS (US$) | 2.65 | 1.37 | 3.08 | −9.37 | −1.23 | 1.41 | 5.72 | 5.66 | 4.80 | 5.91 |
| Diluted shares (millions) | 43 | 43 | 41 | 42 | 45 | 45 | 44 | 43 | 41 | 40 |
| Cash flow | ||||||||||
| Cash from operations | 315 | 255 | 289 | 277 | 173 | 272 | 281 | 320 | 352 | 355 |
| Capital expenditure | 54 | 64 | 98 | 110 | 90 | 91 | 105 | 117 | 129 | 136 |
| Free cash flow | 261 | 191 | 191 | 167 | 83 | 181 | 176 | 203 | 223 | 219 |
| Dividends paid | 16 | 43 | 43 | 34 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| Share buybacks | 0 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Acquisitions | 19 | 167 | 85 | 74 | 1 | 73 | 105 | 107 | 296 | 8 |
| Stock-based compensation | 18 | 15 | 18 | 18 | 20 | 25 | 24 | 21 | 28 | 30 |
| Balance sheet at fiscal year end | ||||||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | 848 | 541 | 408 | 408 | 501 | 642 | 688 | 597 | 370 | 390 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 1,620 | 1,561 | 1,463 | 1,440 | 1,574 | 1,460 | 1,168 | 1,211 | 1,141 | 1,296 |
| Total assets | 3,807 | 3,841 | 3,779 | 3,407 | 3,140 | 3,418 | 3,162 | 3,240 | 3,328 | 3,544 |
| Total liabilities | 2,346 | 2,406 | 2,392 | 2,441 | 2,383 | 2,462 | 2,018 | 2,074 | 2,033 | 2,279 |
| Shareholders' equity | 1,460 | 1,434 | 1,387 | 960 | 751 | 955 | 1,143 | 1,166 | 1,295 | 1,264 |
| Margins and ratios | ||||||||||
| Gross margin | 41.6% | 38.4% | 38.3% | 37.2% | 32.9% | 33.5% | 35.1% | 38.0% | 37.5% | 38.0% |
| Operating margin | 9.8% | 11.2% | 14.5% | 9.7% | 8.6% | 11.5% | 13.9% | 12.6% | 10.8% | 11.6% |
| Net margin | 5.4% | 4.5% | 7.4% | −17.7% | −3.1% | 2.8% | 9.8% | 9.7% | 8.1% | 8.8% |
| Free cash flow margin | 11.1% | 9.2% | 8.8% | 7.8% | 4.8% | 7.9% | 6.8% | 8.1% | 9.1% | 8.1% |
| Return on capital | 10.2% | 10.0% | 9.3% | 6.7% | 6.1% | 12.8% | 18.0% | 15.8% | 12.1% | 13.3% |
| Return on equity | 11.2% | 6.4% | 11.4% | −32.1% | −6.5% | 7.5% | 24.3% | 21.0% | 16.1% | 18.6% |
| Return on assets | 3.6% | 2.4% | 4.2% | −10.5% | −1.7% | 1.9% | 7.7% | 7.6% | 6.0% | 6.9% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 2.0x | 2.7x | 2.3x | 3.0x | 4.2x | 2.3x | 1.1x | 1.5x | 2.0x | 2.0x |