Belden

BDC

Communication Equipment · Technology

Price

$101.39

+0.19 (+0.19%)

Market Cap

$3.95B

Winston Score

Winston is curious

Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.

Share count falling — buybacks

−11.4% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 45.4M (2021) → 40.2M (2025)

Belden Inc. makes cables, connectors, and networking equipment used to move data and signals reliably in tough environments. Its main customers are factories, hospitals, broadcast studios, and companies running industrial automation systems. Belden is one of the larger specialty signal transmission companies in the world, and it owns well-known brands like Hirschmann and Grass Valley.

Belden earns money by selling hardware — cables, switches, and related gear — along with software and services tied to industrial networking. The company operates globally, with significant revenue from North America and Europe, and generates around $2.5 billion in annual sales. Its moat comes from deep relationships with industrial customers who rely on Belden's products in critical infrastructure where switching suppliers is costly and risky. The key growth driver is rising demand for industrial automation and smart factory upgrades, though a slowdown in manufacturing capital spending remains the main near-term risk to revenue.

Winston Score History

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+11.4% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady revenue growth

EPS Growth

+1.6% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow EPS growth

R&D Spend

$128M/ year

↑ Rising (+14% vs prior year)

4.7% of revenue

Below sector average (15%)

R&D investment increasing — building for the future

Insider Activity

1.4%ownership

Relatively low insider ownership

Cash Runway

~13 months

$272M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Adequate runway but may need to raise capital within 2 years

Growth context

Belden is growing revenue at 11% year-over-year. The Winston Score measures business quality today — these growth metrics show what could matter tomorrow.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

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Quality

Gross Margin

36.0%

Modest — 36.0% gross margin

Operating Margin

12.4%

Healthy — 12.4% operating margin

ROCE

3.4%

Weak — 3.4% return on capital

ROIC between 0% and 5%. They earn a few cents back per dollar invested in the business.

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Growth

Sales YoY

+9.3%

Steady sales growth (9.3% YoY)

EPS YoY

+14.0%

Earnings growing (14.0% YoY)

Healthy double-digit earnings growth — what compounders look like.

EPS Consistency

8/8 quarters

Every recent quarter grew earnings vs last year

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion

139%

Turns 139% of profit into real cash

FCF Margin

6.5%

Modest free cash flow (6.5%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

Debt / Equity

0.98

Moderate — manageable debt (0.98)

Interest Cover

6.89x

Adequate interest coverage (6.9x)

Interest coverage between 3 and 8. Profits cover interest several times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)

16.9x

Fair value — P/E 16.9

P/E in the normal range. Price is roughly $15 for every $1 of yearly profit.

P/E vs Forward

+4.3

GROWING

Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (16.9 → 12.6)

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Dividends

Dividend Yield

0.20%

Small dividend — 0.20% yield

Modest yield. The bulk of any return needs to come from price appreciation.

Dividend Growth

+0.0%

Dividend flat

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