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CTS Corporation

CTS
52
Hardware, Equipment & Parts · Technology
Price
$59.40
-0.08 (-0.13%)
Market Cap
$1.70B
Winston Score
52
Winston is curious
Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.

Share count falling — buybacks

7.8% over 4y

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

Diluted shares outstanding: 32.3M (2021) → 29.8M (2025)

CTS Corporation makes electronic components and sensors used inside vehicles, industrial machines, and medical devices. Its main products include sensors, actuators, and connectivity parts that help machines detect motion, position, and temperature. The company sells mostly to large manufacturers in the automotive and industrial markets, with automotive being its biggest source of revenue.

CTS earns money by selling these components directly to manufacturers, who build them into their finished products. The company operates globally, with facilities in North America, Europe, and Asia, and generates roughly $500 million in annual revenue. Its competitive position comes from deep engineering relationships with large automakers and the difficulty of switching suppliers once a component is designed into a vehicle platform. The key growth driver is the shift toward electric vehicles and more complex vehicle electronics, which require more sensors per vehicle — though a slowdown in global auto production would be a meaningful risk to its business.

Winston Score History

Politician Trades

3 trades / 12mo

0 Congressional buys and 3 sells on CTS in the last 12 months.

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Growth Profile

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

Revenue Growth

+10.9% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady revenue growth

EPS Growth

+33.3% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

R&D Spend

$25M/ year

Rising (+8% vs prior year)

4.7% of revenue

Below sector average (15%)

R&D investment increasing — building for the future

Insider Activity

1.8%ownership

Relatively low insider ownership

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$91M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

→ Burn rate stable

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Growth + cash flow

CTS Corporation is a rare growth stock that's already generating positive cash flow while growing at 11%. The Winston Score doesn't fully credit this transition from "burner" to "earner."

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

Every number that matters to educated investors.

Each metric is explained in plain language so you know exactly what you're looking at. Start your free trial now.

Quality

Gross Margin
38.5%
Modest — 38.5% gross margin
Operating Margin
15.1%
Healthy — 15.1% 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
+7.8%
Steady sales growth (7.8% YoY)
EPS YoY
+18.5%
Earnings growing fast (18.5% YoY)

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

EPS Consistency
6/8 quarters
Earnings grew in most of the last 8 quarters

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion
150%
Turns 150% of profit into real cash
FCF Margin
15.8%
Converts sales into free cash efficiently (15.8%)

FCF margin between 10% and 20%. Every $100 in sales becomes $10 to $20 in real cash.

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Stability

Debt / Equity
0.12
Conservative — low debt load (0.12)
Interest Cover
18.18x
Comfortably covers interest (18.2x)

Interest coverage above 8. Profits cover interest many times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)
25.1x
Growth-priced — P/E 25.1

P/E above the market average. People are paying up for expected growth.

P/E vs Forward
-2.5
SLOWING
Earnings expected to fall — forward P/E higher than today

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Dividends

Dividend Yield
0.24%
Small dividend — 0.24% yield

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

Dividend Growth
+0.0%
Dividend flat

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