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Acme United (Acme United) Earnings Power Value (EPV) : $38.67 (As of Mar24)


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What is Acme United Earnings Power Value (EPV)?

As of Mar24, Acme United's earnings power value is $38.67. *

* GuruFocus does not store EPV value into our database if Average Maintenance CAPEX is 0.

Margin of Safety is -5.8

The basic concept of EPV is that one should value a stock based on the current free cash flow of a company and not on future projections which may, or may not, come true. It is arguably a better way to analyze stocks than Discounted Cash Flow analysis that relies on highly speculative growth assumptions many years into the future. Assumption: Current profitability is sustainable.


Acme United Earnings Power Value (EPV) Historical Data

The historical data trend for Acme United's Earnings Power Value (EPV) can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

Acme United Earnings Power Value (EPV) Chart

Acme United Annual Data
Trend Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23
Earnings Power Value (EPV)
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 21.51 21.54 21.69 36.05 45.69

Acme United Quarterly Data
Jun19 Sep19 Dec19 Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23 Mar24
Earnings Power Value (EPV) Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 38.97 39.64 41.48 45.69 -

Competitive Comparison of Acme United's Earnings Power Value (EPV)

For the Household & Personal Products subindustry, Acme United's Earnings Power Value (EPV), along with its competitors' market caps and Earnings Power Value (EPV) data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Acme United's Earnings Power Value (EPV) Distribution in the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry

For the Consumer Packaged Goods industry and Consumer Defensive sector, Acme United's Earnings Power Value (EPV) distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Acme United's Earnings Power Value (EPV) falls into.



Acme United Earnings Power Value (EPV) Calculation

Earnings Power Value also known as just Earnings Power is a valuation technique popularised by Bruce Greenwald, an authority on value investing at Columbia University. It is arguably a better way to analyze stocks than Discounted Cash Flow analysis that relies on highly speculative growth assumptions many years into the future.

The basic concept of EPV is that one should value a stock based on the current free cash flow of a company and not on future projections which may, or may not, come true. This valuation tool excludes the potential growth that a company may have so that needs to be looked at separately. Since future growth is excluded from the analysis, only the maintenance capital expenditures are subtracted from after-tax EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) and growth capex is ignored.

Acme United's "Earning Power" Calculation:

Average of Last 20 Quarters Last Quarter
Revenue 177.5
DDA 4.0
Operating Margin % 5.92
SGA * 25% 13.2
Tax Rate % 11.81
Maintenance Capex 3.2
Cash and Cash Equivalents 2.4
Short-Term Debt 2.0
Long-Term Debt 37.5
Shares Outstanding (Diluted) 4.2

1. Start with "Earnings" not including accounting adjustments (one-time charges not excluded unless policy has changed). "Earnings" are "Operating Income.

2. Look at average margins over a business/Industry cycle: Average Operating Margin = 5.92%

To normalize margins and eliminate the effects on profitability of valuing the firm at different points in the business cycle, it is usually best to take a long-term average of operating margins. Ideally this would be as long as 10 years and include at least one economic downturn. However, since most of companies do not have as long as 10-year history, here GuruFocus uses the latest 5 years data to do the calculation. To smooth out unusual years but reflect recent developments, we take an average of the 5 year margin.

3. Multiply average margins by sustainable revenues and then adjust for maintenance SGA. This yields "normalized" EBIT:

To be conservative, GuruFocus uses an average of the 5 year revenues as the sustainable revenue.
EPV analysis recognises that part of SG&A expenditure is made to maintain and replace the existing assets, while part is made to grow sales. Since EPV is only interested in what it costs a going concern to maintain its existing asset base, it adds back a percentage of SG&A (between 15% and 50% - this is a matter of judgment and industry knowledge) to make up for the fact that some of this expenditure went to fund growth and shouldn't be accounted for. To start off, we assume 25% for the sake of prudence.
Sustainable Revenue = $177.5 Mil, Average Operating Margin = 5.92%, Average Adjusted SGA = 13.2,
therefore "Normalized" EBIT = Sustainable Revenue * Average Operating Margin + Average Adjusted SGA = 177.5 * 5.92% +13.2 = $23.742223674 Mil.

4. Multiply by one minus Average Tax Rate (NOPAT):

Same as average operating margin calculation, GuruFocus takes an average of the 5 years tax rates.
Average Tax Rate = 11.81%, and "Normalized" EBIT = $23.742223674 Mil,
therefore After-tax "Normalized" EBIT = "Normalized" EBIT * ( 1 - Average Tax Rate ) = 23.742223674 * ( 1 - 11.81% ) = $20.939454169284 Mil.

5. Add back Excess Depreciation (after tax at 1/2 average tax rate). This yields "normalized" Earnings:

Excess Depreciation = Average DDA * % of Excess Depreciation (after tax at 1/2 average tax rate) = 4.0 * 0.5 * 11.81% = $0.236347905 Mil.
"Normalized" Earnings = After-tax "Normalized" EBIT + Excess Depreciation = 20.939454169284 + 0.236347905 = $21.175802074284 Mil.

6. Adjusted for Maintenance Capital Expenditure:

First, calculate the revenue change regarding to the previous year. If the revenue decreased from the previous year, then the Maintenance Capital Expenditure = Capital Expenditure (positive).
Second, if the revenue increased from the previous year, then calculate the percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue.
Third, calculate Capital Expenditure (positive) - percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue * revenue increase.
If [Capital Expenditure (positive) - percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue * revenue increase] was negative, then the Maintenance Capital Expenditure = Capital Expenditure (positive).
If [Capital Expenditure (positive) - percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue * revenue increase] was positive, then the Maintenance Capital Expenditure = Capital Expenditure (positive) - percentage of Net PPE as of corresponding Revenue * revenue increase.
Fourth, GuruFocus uses an average of the 5 year maintenance capital expenditures as maintenance CAPEX.
Acme United's Average Maintenance CAPEX = $3.2 Mil *.
* GuruFocus does not store EPV value into our database if Average Maintenance CAPEX is 0.

7. Investors require a return of "WACC" for the risk they are taking: WACC = 9%

8. Acme United's current cash and cash equivalent = $2.4 Mil.
Acme United's current interest bearing debt = Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation + Short-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation = 37.5 + 2.0 = $39.537 Mil.
Acme United's current Shares Outstanding (Diluted Average) = 4.2 Mil.

Acme United's Earnings Power Value (EPV) for Mar24 is calculated as:

EPV = ( ( Norm. Earnings-Maint. CAPEX *) / WACC + CashandEquiv - Int. Bearing Debt ) / Shares Outstanding (Diluted Average)
= ( ( 21.175802074284 - 3.2)/ 9%+2.4-39.537 )/4.2
=38.67

Margin of Safety (EPV)=( Earnings Power Value (EPV)-Current Price )/Earnings Power Value (EPV)
=( 38.668518274875-40.91 )/38.668518274875
= -5.8%

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* GuruFocus does not store EPV value into our database if Average Maintenance CAPEX is 0.


Acme United  (AMEX:ACU) Earnings Power Value (EPV) Explanation

Assumption: Current profitability is sustainable.

Earnings power value (EPV) uses a very basic equation which assumes no growth, although it does rely on an assumption about the cost of capital as well as the fact that current earnings are sustainable. It also involves several adjustments to clean up the underlying Earnings figures.


Be Aware

Though using today's earnings in calculating Earnings Power Value, GuruFocus is normalizing these earnings to the business cycle. This eliminates the effects on profitability of valuing the firm at different points in the business cycle. This means that we are considering the average earnings over 5 years.


Acme United Earnings Power Value (EPV) Related Terms

Thank you for viewing the detailed overview of Acme United's Earnings Power Value (EPV) provided by GuruFocus.com. Please click on the following links to see related term pages.


Acme United (Acme United) Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
Address
1 Waterview Drive, Shelton, CT, USA, 06484
Acme United Corp is a supplier of first aid and medical products and cutting technology to the school, home, office, hardware, sporting goods, and industrial markets. Its principal products sold across all segments are first aid kits and medical products, scissors, shears, knives, rulers, pencil sharpeners, and sharpening tools. The Company sells its products to mass market and e-commerce retailers, industrial distributors, wholesale, contract, and retail stationery distributors, office supply superstores, sporting goods stores, and hardware chains. The Company's reportable business segments consist of the United States, Canada, and Europe, out of which a majority of the company's revenue is derived from the United States.
Executives
Brian S Olschan director, officer: Pres, Chief Operations Officer C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Rex Lynn Davidson director 70 BATTERY PLACE #620, NEW YORK NY 10280
Paul G Driscoll officer: Vice President and CFO C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Brian Barker director 55 WALLS DRIVE, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Walter C Johnsen director, officer: See Remarks C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Ward Stevenson E Iii director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Susan H Murphy director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Holden Richmond Y Jr director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
North Star Investment Management Corp. 10 percent owner 20 N. WACKER DRIVE, SUITE # 1416, CHICAGO IL 60606
Gary D Penisten director, officer: Chairman C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
R Scott Asen 10 percent owner 224 E 49TH ST, NEW YORK NY 10017
James A Benkovic officer: Vice President of Sales C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824
Stephen Jr Spinelli director THE COLONNADE RESIDENCES, 118 HUNTINGTON AVE, APT 1102, BOSTON MA 02116
Wayne R Moore director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 1931 BLACK ROCK TURNPIKE, FAIRFIELD CT 06825
George R Dunbar director C/O ACME UNITED CORP, 60 ROUND HILL ROAD, FAIRFIELD CT 06824