Stocks · Industrials · Electrical Equipment & Parts
Acuity Brands, Inc. AYI
$304.84 -1.27% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $9.24B
High qualityInexpensive vs sectorLow risk
Next earnings report: Jan 14, 2027
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
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 15 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +3.4%).
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $17.10, up 36.5% year over year.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $4.64B, up 6.8% from a year earlier, slowing from 10.5% a quarter earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 45%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 24%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 30%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 46%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 13%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 13%
- Gross marginTop 12%
- Operating marginTop 21%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 47%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 33%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 21%
- Interest coverTop 10%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 14%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 15%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 19%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 48%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 32%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 33%
- 6-month returnTop 35%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 30%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 39%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 41%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 43%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 1%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 26%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 46%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 26%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 19%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 43%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 21%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 10.5% | 6.8% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 18.8% | 36.5% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 47.8% | 50.6% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 13.0% | 15.9% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 12.3% | 16.1% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 6.8% | 10.5% | ↓ | Bottom 45% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 36.5% | 18.8% | ↑ | Top 24% |
| Gross margin | 50.6% | 47.8% | ↑ | Top 12% |
| Operating margin | 15.9% | 13.0% | ↑ | Top 21% |
| Net margin | 11.4% | 9.1% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 16.1% | 12.3% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 14.5% | — | Top 13% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 5.5% | — | Top 46% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.55×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -6.0%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -0.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 0.07×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 25.1×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.26%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 3.04%
- Shareholder yield
- 3.30%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -2.5%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.9%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Aug 31, 2026 (filed Oct 1, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 15
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +3.4%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.6%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 7
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $390.33
- Target vs current price
- +28.0%
- Analysts with a rating
- 33
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 42%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | +3.6% | -3.4% | — | — | — |
| Jun 25, 2026 | +2.7% | +17.6% | +20.3% | +7.0% | -0.8% |
| Apr 2, 2026 | +3.5% | -7.5% | -3.6% | +1.0% | +28.1% |
| Jan 8, 2026 | +3.8% | -12.9% | -13.7% | -14.6% | -27.5% |
| Oct 1, 2025 | +7.7% | +5.4% | +0.7% | +5.4% | +8.1% |
| Jun 26, 2025 | +15.3% | +5.8% | +6.4% | +3.4% | +17.1% |
| Apr 3, 2025 | +1.1% | -3.4% | -7.7% | -9.2% | +12.0% |
| Jan 8, 2025 | +2.6% | +3.2% | +7.3% | +8.2% | -23.1% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | $5.77 | $5.57 | +3.6% | $1.24B |
| Jun 25, 2026 | $5.31 | $5.17 | +2.7% | $1.20B |
| Apr 2, 2026 | $4.14 | $4.00 | +3.5% | $1.06B |
| Jan 8, 2026 | $4.69 | $4.52 | +3.8% | $1.14B |
| Oct 1, 2025 | $5.20 | $4.83 | +7.7% | $1.21B |
| Jun 26, 2025 | $5.12 | $4.44 | +15.3% | $1.18B |
| Apr 3, 2025 | $3.73 | $3.69 | +1.1% | $1.01B |
| Jan 8, 2025 | $3.97 | $3.87 | +2.6% | $951.6M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 17.8× | 19.5× | 38th | Top 14% |
| P/E (forward) | 14.3× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.4× | — | — | Top 19% |
| EV / Sales | 2.00× | — | — | Top 48% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 8.09% | — | — | Top 15% |
| Earnings yield | 5.61% | — | — | Top 14% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 14.0× – 29.6× since Aug 31, 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
- -14.4%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +36.5%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -40.8%
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
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -3.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.7%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -7.6%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -2.9%
- RSI (14)
- 43.1
- Relative volume
- 1.24×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 30.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 51th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.13
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.55
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -19.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -33.7%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 9, 2021 | Jun 23, 2022 | -34.7% | 155 days | 388 days (Jan 9, 2024) |
| Jan 23, 2025 | Apr 8, 2025 | -33.8% | 52 days | 102 days (Sep 4, 2025) |
| Jan 5, 2026 | Mar 12, 2026 | -31.6% | 46 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 7, 2020 | Oct 30, 2020 | -21.3% | 17 days | 16 days (Nov 23, 2020) |
| Apr 5, 2024 | Aug 7, 2024 | -18.0% | 85 days | 30 days (Sep 19, 2024) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $9.24B
- P/E (TTM)
- 17.8
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $17.10
- Revenue (TTM)
- $4.64B
- Dividend yield
- 0.32%
- 52-week range
- $257.04 – $380.17
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.01B | $3.95B | $3.84B | $4.35B | $4.64B |
| Gross profit | $1.67B | $1.71B | $1.78B | $2.08B | $2.35B |
| Operating income | $509.7M | $473.4M | $553.3M | $593.6M | $737.4M |
| Net income | $384.0M | $346.0M | $422.6M | $396.6M | $531.3M |
| EPS (diluted) | $11.08 | $10.76 | $13.44 | $12.53 | $17.05 |
| Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $951.6M | $1.01B | $1.18B | $1.21B | $1.14B | $1.06B | $1.20B | $1.24B |
| Net income | $106.7M | $77.5M | $98.4M | $114.0M | $120.5M | $96.8M | $141.0M | $173.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $3.36 | $2.44 | $3.12 | $3.61 | $3.82 | $3.09 | $4.56 | $5.63 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $316.3M | $578.1M | $619.2M | $601.4M | $825.6M |
| Capital expenditure | -$56.5M | -$66.7M | -$64.0M | -$68.4M | -$77.7M |
| Free cash flow | $259.8M | $511.4M | $555.2M | $533.0M | $747.9M |
| Dividends paid | -$18.1M | -$16.8M | -$18.2M | -$20.6M | -$23.8M |
| Net share buybacks | -$514.8M | -$266.6M | -$88.7M | -$90.1M | -$279.7M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $636.3M
- Total assets
- $4.87B
- Total liabilities
- $1.90B
- Total debt
- $697.4M
- Net debt
- $61.1M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $2.97B
As of Aug 31, 2026 (filed Oct 1, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 16, 2026 | $0.20 | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Jul 17, 2026 | $0.20 | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Apr 17, 2026 | $0.20 | May 1, 2026 |
| Feb 2, 2026 | $0.20 | Feb 13, 2026 |
| Oct 17, 2025 | $0.17 | Nov 3, 2025 |
| Jul 18, 2025 | $0.17 | Aug 1, 2025 |
| Apr 17, 2025 | $0.17 | May 1, 2025 |
| Feb 3, 2025 | $0.17 | Feb 14, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 1,080,311
- Days to cover
- 5.09
- Change vs previous report
- +4.9%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.