Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Household & Personal Products
Acme United Corporation ACU
$63.50 +0.55% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · AMEX · Market cap $242.0M
Strong trend
Next earnings report: Oct 20, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- The shares trade at 26.7× trailing earnings, higher than 86% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 96 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $211.6M, up 9.0% from a year earlier, accelerating from 3.8% a quarter earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Defensive sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 27%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 45%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 34%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 34%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 8%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 48%
- Gross marginTop 36%
- Operating marginTop 47%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 22%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 32%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 39%
- Interest coverTop 35%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 46%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 46%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 47%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 47%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 12%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 8%
- 6-month returnTop 7%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 6%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 2%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 5%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 25%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 38%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 42%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 21%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 48%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 39%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 3.8% | 9.0% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -5.3% | -5.6% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 39.4% | 40.1% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 7.2% | 6.8% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 6.3% | 7.3% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 9.0% | 3.8% | ↑ | Top 27% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -5.6% | -5.3% | ↓ | Bottom 45% |
| Gross margin | 40.1% | 39.4% | ↑ | Top 36% |
| Operating margin | 6.8% | 7.2% | ↓ | Top 47% |
| Net margin | 4.6% | 5.3% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 7.3% | 6.3% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 6.8% | — | Top 48% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 0.4% | — | Bottom 34% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.66×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -8.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.7%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -2.0 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 1.56×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 10.4×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.99%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -0.23%
- Shareholder yield
- 0.76%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +1.7%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +4.8%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 2 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +23.5%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +1.8%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 2 of 8
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2026 | +177.3% | +14.3% | +30.5% | +33.0% | — |
| Apr 23, 2026 | -56.4% | -4.5% | -9.7% | -6.9% | +3.2% |
| Feb 26, 2026 | +0.0% | +0.9% | -3.0% | -2.3% | -5.0% |
| Oct 21, 2025 | -27.0% | -1.8% | +1.3% | -6.5% | +14.2% |
| Jul 23, 2025 | +132.0% | +4.3% | +2.3% | -5.3% | -7.9% |
| Apr 17, 2025 | -30.5% | +3.2% | +5.3% | -1.5% | +2.8% |
| Feb 28, 2025 | -22.6% | +3.5% | +0.2% | +8.5% | +3.0% |
| Oct 18, 2024 | -25.0% | -5.9% | -5.9% | -2.9% | -16.6% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2026 | $1.22 | $0.44 | +177.3% | $62.7M |
| Apr 23, 2026 | $0.24 | $0.55 | -56.4% | $52.3M |
| Feb 26, 2026 | $0.46 | $0.46 | +0.0% | $47.5M |
| Oct 21, 2025 | $0.46 | $0.63 | -27.0% | $49.1M |
| Jul 23, 2025 | $1.16 | $0.50 | +132.0% | $54.0M |
| Apr 17, 2025 | $0.41 | $0.59 | -30.5% | $46.0M |
| Feb 28, 2025 | $0.41 | $0.53 | -22.6% | $45.9M |
| Oct 18, 2024 | $0.54 | $0.72 | -25.0% | $48.2M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 26.7× | 15.3× | 86th | Top 46% |
| P/E (forward) | 22.0× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 12.9× | — | — | Bottom 47% |
| EV / Sales | 1.30× | — | — | Bottom 47% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 6.40% | — | — | Top 46% |
| Earnings yield | 3.75% | — | — | Top 46% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 7.9× – 32.0× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +54.1%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -5.6%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +43.4%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 84
- Days above the 200-day average
- 96
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +10.6%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +5.5%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +4.5%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +32.0%
- RSI (14)
- 59.6
- Relative volume
- 0.71×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 39.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 56th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.38
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.18
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -0.5%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -32.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 22, 2021 | Jan 20, 2023 | -53.9% | 440 days | 249 days (Jan 18, 2024) |
| Jan 24, 2024 | Jun 25, 2024 | -32.9% | 105 days | 520 days (Jul 23, 2026) |
| Nov 19, 2020 | Dec 15, 2020 | -19.1% | 17 days | 46 days (Feb 23, 2021) |
| Apr 5, 2021 | Apr 9, 2021 | -12.1% | 4 days | 8 days (Apr 21, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $242.0M
- P/E (TTM)
- 26.7
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $2.38
- Revenue (TTM)
- $211.6M
- Dividend yield
- 1.01%
- 52-week range
- $35.50 – $64.87
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $182.1M | $194.0M | $191.5M | $194.5M | $196.5M |
| Gross profit | $64.8M | $63.6M | $72.2M | $76.4M | $77.4M |
| Operating income | $12.8M | $6.3M | $13.2M | $14.1M | $14.7M |
| Net income | $13.7M | $3.0M | $17.8M | $10.0M | $10.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | $3.45 | $0.82 | $4.86 | $2.45 | $2.49 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $48.2M | $45.9M | $46.0M | $54.0M | $49.1M | $47.5M | $52.3M | $62.7M |
| Net income | $2.2M | $1.7M | $1.7M | $4.8M | $1.9M | $1.9M | $985,000 | $5.1M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.54 | $0.41 | $0.41 | $1.16 | $0.46 | $0.46 | $0.24 | $1.22 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $5.1M | $2.9M | $28.9M | $12.0M | $18.2M |
| Capital expenditure | -$6.4M | -$4.6M | -$5.0M | -$7.1M | -$10.7M |
| Free cash flow | -$1.2M | -$1.7M | $23.9M | $4.8M | $7.6M |
| Dividends paid | -$1.8M | -$1.9M | -$2.0M | -$2.2M | -$2.3M |
| Net share buybacks | $1.6M | $84,715 | $1.5M | $1.6M | $16,554 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $5.0M
- Total assets
- $200.6M
- Total liabilities
- $79.3M
- Total debt
- $38.5M
- Net debt
- $33.4M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $121.3M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2, 2026 | $0.16 | Oct 22, 2026 |
| Jul 2, 2026 | $0.16 | Jul 23, 2026 |
| Mar 25, 2026 | $0.16 | Apr 15, 2026 |
| Jan 6, 2026 | $0.16 | Jan 27, 2026 |
| Oct 3, 2025 | $0.16 | Oct 23, 2025 |
| Jul 3, 2025 | $0.16 | Jul 24, 2025 |
| Mar 26, 2025 | $0.15 | Apr 16, 2025 |
| Jan 6, 2025 | $0.15 | Jan 27, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 71,385
- Days to cover
- 1.66
- Change vs previous report
- -4.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jul 26, 1983
- 4-for-3
- Aug 4, 1980
- 5-for-4
- Jul 17, 1978
- 4-for-3
- Aug 12, 1975
- 1,499-for-1,000