ACU
Acme United Corporation
ACU's fundamentals are mixed, but it looks expensive: trading at 26x earnings, above its usual 15x. Analysts expect strong earnings growth.
ACU Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Healthy |
ACU's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently healthy.
ACU PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 9.6x | $26.07 | -63% |
| Fair | 15x | $41.79 | -40% |
| Expensive | 23x | $62.14 | -12% |
| Forward | 23x | $70.22 | — |
| Current | 26x | $70.22 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
ACU's PE is in its expensive range at 26x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 23x next year's earnings.
ACU Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Growth | |
| Improving | |
| Limited | |
| High |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for ACU, with profitability improving.
ACU Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $3.12 | +15% |
| Q3 2026 | $2.72 | +11% |
| Q2 2026 | $2.38 | -6.3% |
| Q1 2026 | $2.32 | -6.1% |
| Q4 2025 | $2.49 | +1.6% |
| Q3 2025 | $2.46 | -51% |
| Q2 2025 | $2.54 | -50% |
| Q1 2025 | $2.47 | -50% |
| Q4 2024 | $2.45 | -50% |
ACU's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $2.72 over the past year, against $5.10 in mid-2024.
ACU Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $58M | +18% |
| Q2 2026 | $62.7M | +16% |
| Q1 2026 | $52.3M | +14% |
| Q4 2025 | $47.5M | +3.4% |
| Q3 2025 | $49.1M | +1.9% |
| Q2 2025 | $54M | -2.6% |
| Q1 2025 | $46M | +2.2% |
| Q4 2024 | $45.9M | +9.5% |
ACU's revenue has grown year over year for five quarters in a row: $58M last quarter, up 18% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 7.7% | +1.6 points |
| Q2 2026 | 11% | -0.9 points |
| Q1 2026 | 3.3% | -1.9 points |
| Q4 2025 | 6.1% | +1.1 points |
| Q3 2025 | 6.1% | +0.1 points |
| Q2 2025 | 12% | +0.3 points |
| Q1 2025 | 5.3% | -0.4 points |
| Q4 2024 | 5% | 0 points |
ACU's operating margin was 7.7% last quarter, up 1.6 points from the same quarter a year ago.
ACU Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -$1.4M | -558% |
| Q2 2026 | $12.1M | +156% |
| Q1 2026 | -$4.1M | +$568K |
| Q4 2025 | $7.3M | +55% |
| Q3 2025 | $301K | -96% |
| Q2 2025 | $4.7M | +7% |
| Q1 2025 | -$4.7M | +$7.1M |
| Q4 2024 | $4.7M | -23% |
ACU usually generates cash, though not every quarter: the latest was −$1M, but it generated $14M over the past year.
ACU Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +3.7% | +155K shares |
| 1 year | +3.1% | +128K shares |
| 3 years | +15% | +575K shares |
| 5 years | +5.9% | +238K shares |
| Available history | +24% | +843K shares |
ACU has 4M diluted shares, up 3.1% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q4 2020 | $12.00 |
| Q3 2020 | — |
| Q2 2020 | $73,000 |
| Q1 2020 | $214,000 |
ACU Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 0.9x | Very low |
| Q2 2026 | 0.8x | Very low |
| Q1 2026 | 1.4x | Healthy |
| Q4 2025 | 0.4x | Very low |
| Q3 2025 | 0.6x | Very low |
| Q2 2025 | 0.6x | Very low |
| Q1 2025 | 0.8x | Very low |
| Q4 2024 | 0.6x | Very low |
ACU's net debt is less than a year of its operating earnings (EBITDA).
ACU Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 79.3 | Overbought |
| Stochastic | 83.4 | Overbought |
ACU's weekly RSI is 79 (overbought) and its Stochastic is 83 (overbought).
ACU PE vs Consumer Defensive Sector
| Metric | ACU | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 26x | 19x | 32% above |
| PE % | 88 | 18 | 70 pts above |
ACU is trading at 26x earnings, a 32% premium to the Consumer Defensive sector's median of 19x.
ACU Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $64.9 | 8.2% above |
| 20 week MA | $59.9 | 17% above |
| 50 week MA | $49.8 | 41% above |
| 100 week MA | $44.6 | 57% above |
| 200 week MA | $39.9 | 76% above |
ACU is in an uptrend: it's above all five of its weekly moving averages, and 76% above its 200-week average.
ACU Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $23.7 | $31.2 | +32% |
| 2021 | $31.2 | $35.6 | +14% |
| 2022 | $35.6 | $22.3 | -37% |
| 2023 | $22.3 | $42.9 | +92% |
| 2024 | $42.9 | $36.8 | -14% |
| 2025 | $36.8 | $40.6 | +10% |
| 2026 YTD | $40.6 | $70.2 | +73% |
ACU has finished higher in four of the last six years. It's up 73% so far in 2026.