Clearfield

CLFD · Nasdaq · Information Technology · Financials, fiscal 2016 to 2025

CLFD · Last close · November 6, 2026

$28.63

Clearfield's revenue rose 19.6% to $150 million in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 1.4%, up from −15.3% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $22 million, up 72.3%. It paid out $17 million in dividends and buybacks, 76% of free cash flow. The diluted share count fell 4.1%.

CLEARFIELD, INC. Latest fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 10-K filed November 25, 2025 · 0001171843-25-007594 Updated November 7, 2026

Revenue

$150M

19.6%

Operating margin

1.4%

16.7 pts

Net income

−$8M

Free cash flow

$22M

72.3%

Return on equity

−3.0%

1.2 pts

Market cap

$389M

Nov 6 close

P/E

—

Loss: no P/E

Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on equity is net income as a share of shareholders' equity. 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.

About these figures. Return on capital for fiscal 2025 is blank: invested capital is small next to total assets (cash nearly matches equity and debt), so the ratio isn't meaningful. Interest coverage for fiscal 2025 is blank: the 10-K's structured data has no interest expense for that year. Piotroski F-score for fiscal 2025 is blank: the 10-K's structured data doesn't include every figure it needs.

Charts show fiscal years, from the 10-K filings.

What Clearfield does

Clearfield makes fiber management, fiber protection and fiber delivery products. These are the cabinets, panels, enclosures and cable assemblies that connect and protect fiber-optic lines between a provider's network and homes, businesses and mobile towers. It sells them to broadband providers mainly in North America: small and mid-sized telephone carriers, utilities, cities, cable companies, regional providers and national carriers, plus some customers in Europe, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Clearfield says its products let providers connect homes faster and with less labor and material. It reports one segment. In November 2025 it sold its Nestor Cables business, now shown as discontinued operations. Much of its sales go through distributors. In its fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, one distributor made up approximately 18% of net sales, and a second distributor made up a smaller share.

Clearfield had approximately 243 full-time employees at the end of fiscal 2025, all in the United States. Sales peak in its third and fourth fiscal quarters.

Its biggest risks, as it describes them

Shortages of materials, and reliance on single-source suppliers and outside manufacturers.
Changes in trade policy and inflation that raise costs.
Depending on a few distributor customers for a large share of sales.
Customers merging, which can reduce or delay sales.
Needing to keep launching new products that the market accepts.

From Clearfield's annual report on Form 10-K, filed November 25, 2025, in our words; the 10-K has the full description and every risk factor. Updated with each new annual report.

Income statement

Revenue and net income

US$ billions, fiscal years; net losses in red. Revenue on the left axis, net income on the right; zero is the same line on both.

Revenue (left axis)Net income (right axis)

Gross profit, R&D and operating income

US$ billions, fiscal years. Gross profit is revenue minus the cost of what was sold; research and development is one of the costs paid from it; what remains after all operating costs is operating income. Losses in red.

Gross profitResearch and developmentOperating income

Margins

Percent of revenue

GrossOperatingNetFree cash flow

From fiscal 2016 to 2023, earnings per share grew 20.4% a year and net income 22.2% a year, as new shares raised the share count by 9% and diluted each share's earnings. Clearfield then lost money in fiscal 2024 and 2025.

Diluted earnings per share

US$ per share, fiscal years, restated for any stock splits; loss years in red.

Returns on capital

Return on capital and on equity

Percent. Return on capital is after-tax operating income over the money invested in the business (debt plus equity, minus cash); return on equity is net income over shareholders' equity. Both use the average of opening and closing balances.

Return on capitalReturn on equity

Balance sheet

Cash and debt

US$ billions, at each fiscal year end. Debt includes finance leases.

Cash and short-term investmentsDebt

Assets, liabilities and equity

US$ billions, at each fiscal year end. Assets equal liabilities plus equity; negative equity in red.

Total assetsTotal liabilitiesShareholders' equity

Debt and liquidity ratios

Times. Debt to equity, current assets over current liabilities, and net debt over EBITDA (a full year's).

Debt to equityCurrent ratioNet debt to EBITDA

Five years at a glance

Fiscal year end	FY21	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Cash and short-term investments	24	22	168	129	106
Debt incl. finance leases	0	19	0	2	—
Net debt (negative means net cash)	−24	−4	−168	−127	—
Net debt to EBITDA	−0.9x	−0.1x	−4.0x	—	—
Debt to equity	0.0x	0.1x	0.0x	0.0x	—
Interest coverage	—	205.2x	42.6x	−38.0x	—
Current ratio	3.5x	3.1x	10.2x	9.4x	5.4x
Quick ratio	2.1x	1.5x	6.8x	7.1x	4.3x

US$ millions unless stated, at each fiscal year end. Net debt to EBITDA is debt minus cash, divided by operating income before depreciation and amortization: roughly how many years of those earnings the net debt equals. Debt to equity is debt as a multiple of shareholders' equity. Interest coverage is operating income divided by interest expense. The current ratio is current assets over current liabilities; the quick ratio leaves out inventory.

Cash flow

Cash from operations, capital spending and free cash flow

US$ billions, fiscal years. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending; negative years in red.

Cash from operationsCapital spendingFree cash flow

Stock-based compensation and buybacks

US$ billions, fiscal years. Shares paid to employees (stock-based compensation, a cost that uses no cash) against cash spent buying shares back. Buybacks that only match it leave the share count roughly where it was.

Stock-based compensationShare buybacks

Dividends and buybacks

US$ billions, cash paid in each fiscal year

DividendsShare buybacks

Diluted share count

Weighted-average diluted shares, millions

Projections

Project Clearfield's revenue, net income and earnings per share five years ahead in a bull, a base and a bear case with your own figures, and see the share prices your P/E estimates give them, or value it with a discounted cash flow model. Every projected figure is yours: it is not a forecast of ours.

Open Clearfield's projections

Insider trades

Over the 12 months between November 7, 2025 and November 6, 2026, 1 insider bought $300,600 of Clearfield shares on the open market, and 4 insiders sold $1.2 million, $862,027 of it under trading plans set up in advance.

Buys and sells by month

US$ millions, open-market purchases (up) and sales (down) by officers, directors and 10% owners in each month.

BoughtSold

Date	Insider	Trade	Shares	Price	Value	Filing
Jul 1, 2026	Cheryl BeranekChief Executive Officer, Director	Sold plan	1,778	$40.06	$71,227	Form 4
Jun 9, 2026	Anis KhemakhemChief Commercial Officer	Sold	1,684	$39.90	$67,192	Form 4
Jun 1, 2026	Cheryl BeranekChief Executive Officer, Director	Sold plan	7,500	$46.92	$351,900	Form 4
May 27, 2026	Cheryl BeranekChief Executive Officer, Director	Sold plan	2,500	$50.00	$125,000	Form 4
May 11, 2026	Cheryl BeranekChief Executive Officer, Director	Sold plan	2,500	$45.02	$112,550	Form 4
May 11, 2026	Walter Louis Jones JRDirector	Sold	2,391	$46.05	$110,106	Form 4
May 8, 2026	Cheryl BeranekChief Executive Officer, Director	Sold plan	5,000	$40.27	$201,350	Form 4
Feb 19, 2026	Donald R. HaywardDirector	Sold	3,595	$32.00	$115,040	Form 4
Dec 15, 2025	Ronald G RothDirector, 10% owner	Bought	10,000	$30.06	$300,600	Form 4

Open-market purchases and sales by officers, directors and 10% owners, from their Form 4 filings with the SEC: one row per person, day and filing, at the day's average price. Grants, option exercises and shares withheld for tax aren't counted. Insiders buy and sell for many reasons, such as taxes, spreading their savings or a plan set up months earlier, so a trade on its own says little about where a company is heading. For information only, not investment advice. Insider trades at all companies

Indicators

Four widely used measures, worked out from the company's filings. The cutoffs are the ones their authors or users go by, not a verdict of ours.

Indicator	FY23	FY24	FY25
Piotroski F-score	4 of 9	3 of 9	—
Rule of 40	−11.9%	−34.3%	34.1%
Altman Z''	15.01	12.38	10.03
Accruals ratio	4.8%	−10.3%	−11.1%

Piotroski F-score: how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency the company passed in the year (Piotroski, 2000); 8 or 9 is strong, 0 to 2 weak. Rule of 40: revenue growth plus free cash flow margin; software investors treat 40% or more as the bar. Altman Z'': working capital, retained earnings, operating income and equity weighed against assets and liabilities (Altman, 1995); Altman puts above 2.6 in the safe zone and below 1.1 in the distress zone. Accruals ratio: net income minus cash from operations, over average total assets; lower means profit is backed by cash.

The nine F-score tests

Test	FY23	FY24	FY25
Net income is positive	Pass	Fail	Fail
Cash from operations is positive	Pass	Pass	Pass
Return on assets rose	Fail	Fail	Pass
Cash from operations exceeds net income	Fail	Pass	Pass
Debt fell relative to assets	Pass	Fail	—
Current ratio rose	Pass	Fail	Fail
Share count didn't rise	Fail	Pass	Pass
Gross margin rose	Fail	Fail	Pass
Revenue rose relative to assets	Fail	Fail	Pass
F-score	4 of 9	3 of 9	—

Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.

Compare

Put Clearfield 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
Clearfield	FY25	19.6%	1.4%	14.5%	—	—	—
Lantronix	FY26	−1.6%	−3.4%	7.7%	−5.1%	—	7	Compare
BK Technologies	FY25	12.5%	18.6%	21.4%	—	—	—	Compare
Harmonic	FY25	−26.1%	3.9%	26.9%	1.6%	−0.5x	4	Compare
Digi International	FY25	1.5%	13.1%	24.5%	6.3%	1.5x	6	Compare

Each company's latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so the periods don't line up exactly. Free cash flow margin is free cash flow as a share of revenue. Net debt to EBITDA is explained under the balance sheet, and the F-score under Indicators.

10 years of figures

Fiscal year	FY16	FY17	FY18	FY19	FY20	FY21	FY22	FY23	FY24	FY25
Income statement
Revenue	75	74	78	85	93	141	271	226	126	150
Revenue growth	24.8%	−1.8%	5.0%	9.5%	9.5%	51.2%	92.5%	−16.7%	−44.4%	19.6%
Gross profit	33	30	31	33	38	61	113	80	26	50
Research and development	1	1	1	1	1	0	1	3	3	2
Operating income	11	5	5	5	8	25	64	38	−19	2
Net income	8	4	4	5	7	20	49	32	−12	−8
Diluted EPS (US$)	0.59	0.28	0.32	0.34	0.53	1.47	3.55	2.17	−0.85	−0.58
Diluted shares (millions)	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	15	15	14
Cash flow
Cash from operations	12	6	4	15	7	11	2	18	22	27
Capital expenditure	2	2	1	2	2	2	8	8	10	5
Free cash flow	10	4	3	12	5	9	−6	11	13	22
Dividends paid	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Share buybacks	0	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	33	17
Acquisitions	0	0	10	0	0	0	16	0	0	0
Stock-based compensation	1	2	2	2	1	1	2	4	4	5
Balance sheet at fiscal year end
Cash and short-term investments	34	24	18	24	27	24	22	168	129	106
Debt incl. finance leases	—	—	—	—	—	0	19	0	2	—
Total assets	71	70	74	82	95	126	229	356	315	306
Total liabilities	8	5	5	7	12	22	82	40	40	50
Shareholders' equity	63	64	69	75	83	104	148	315	276	256
Margins and ratios
Gross margin	43.7%	40.9%	39.9%	38.4%	40.7%	43.5%	41.7%	35.4%	20.6%	33.7%
Operating margin	14.2%	7.2%	6.5%	6.1%	9.0%	17.9%	23.6%	16.6%	−15.3%	1.4%
Net margin	10.6%	5.2%	5.5%	5.4%	7.8%	14.4%	18.2%	14.4%	−9.9%	−5.4%
Free cash flow margin	13.3%	5.8%	4.3%	14.4%	5.2%	6.3%	−2.3%	4.8%	10.1%	14.5%
Rule of 40 (growth + FCF margin)	38.1%	4.0%	9.3%	23.9%	14.7%	57.5%	90.2%	−11.9%	−34.3%	34.1%
Return on capital	—	—	—	—	—	—	44.1%	20.4%	−10.3%	—
Return on equity	14.1%	6.0%	6.4%	6.3%	9.2%	21.8%	39.3%	14.1%	−4.2%	−3.0%
Return on assets	12.5%	5.5%	6.0%	5.8%	8.2%	18.4%	27.8%	11.1%	−3.7%	−2.6%
Net debt to EBITDA	—	—	—	—	—	−0.9x	−0.1x	−4.0x	—	—

US$ millions unless stated. Where a later 10-K restated a year, the latest filed figure is shown. Download all figures (CSV, US$ millions)

Source: Clearfield's Form 10-K filings, from SEC EDGAR. For information only, not investment advice. The Filing Desk is not affiliated with Clearfield.