Stocks · Industrials · Manufacturing - Tools & Accessories
The Eastern Company EML
$24.61 +2.37% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $148.4M
Inexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 10, 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 stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 93 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $234.4M, down 13.7% from a year earlier, slowing from -11.4% a quarter earlier.
- Operating margin narrowed to 2.4% from 6.1% a year 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 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 5%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 6%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 18%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 18%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 33%
- Gross marginBottom 31%
- Operating marginBottom 31%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 23%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 46%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 43%
- Interest coverBottom 41%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 16%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 9%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 18%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 17%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 41%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 38%
- 6-month returnTop 29%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 50%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 33%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 42%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 13%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 16%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 40%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 46%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 24%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 43%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -11.4% | -13.7% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 23.8% | 20.9% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 6.1% | 2.4% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 1.4% | 6.5% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | -13.7% | -11.4% | ↓ | Bottom 5% |
| Gross margin | 20.9% | 23.8% | ↓ | Bottom 31% |
| Operating margin | 2.4% | 6.1% | ↓ | Bottom 31% |
| Net margin | 3.4% | -3.9% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 6.5% | 1.4% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 2.1% | — | Bottom 33% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -3.8% | — | Bottom 18% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.36×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -4.5%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +5.2 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 2.41×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 2.3×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.79%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 1.64%
- Shareholder yield
- 3.43%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -1.5%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -1.3%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 4, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 1 of 6
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- -63.2%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +1.7%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | -77.6% | -1.4% | +1.4% | +5.5% | — |
| May 12, 2026 | -78.0% | +1.6% | -7.6% | +0.6% | +14.2% |
| Mar 3, 2026 | -13.9% | -0.2% | +2.1% | +7.5% | +14.4% |
| Nov 4, 2025 | -83.1% | -0.8% | -7.6% | -11.3% | -12.1% |
| Aug 5, 2025 | +5.6% | +0.8% | +1.4% | +7.6% | -5.1% |
| May 6, 2025 | -24.4% | +10.8% | +12.8% | +10.0% | +11.4% |
| Mar 11, 2025 | — | -0.7% | -2.8% | -15.1% | -17.7% |
| Nov 5, 2024 | — | +3.4% | -10.6% | -2.9% | -12.8% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | $0.15 | $0.67 | -77.6% | $61.8M |
| May 12, 2026 | $0.11 | $0.50 | -78.0% | $59.7M |
| Mar 3, 2026 | $0.31 | $0.36 | -13.9% | $57.5M |
| Nov 4, 2025 | $0.13 | $0.77 | -83.1% | $55.3M |
| Aug 5, 2025 | $0.57 | $0.54 | +5.6% | $70.2M |
| May 6, 2025 | $0.31 | $0.41 | -24.4% | $63.3M |
| Mar 11, 2025 | $0.42 | — | — | $66.7M |
| Nov 5, 2024 | $0.75 | — | — | $71.3M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 18.4× | 17.4× | 71th | Top 16% |
| P/E (forward) | 9.6× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.1× | — | — | Top 18% |
| EV / Sales | 0.83× | — | — | Top 17% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 10.20% | — | — | Top 9% |
| Earnings yield | 5.43% | — | — | Top 16% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 8.8× – 33.9× since Jul 3, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
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
- 93
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.4%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +2.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -2.3%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +11.6%
- RSI (14)
- 46.9
- Relative volume
- 0.81×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 37.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 54th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.76
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.30
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -16.3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -48.2%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 3, 2021 | Mar 15, 2023 | -52.8% | 448 days | 260 days (Mar 27, 2024) |
| Oct 17, 2024 | Jan 28, 2026 | -48.2% | 319 days | Not yet recovered |
| Mar 27, 2024 | Jun 25, 2024 | -30.9% | 61 days | 80 days (Oct 17, 2024) |
| Mar 16, 2021 | Mar 24, 2021 | -11.4% | 6 days | 24 days (Apr 28, 2021) |
| Nov 10, 2020 | Nov 12, 2020 | -11.0% | 2 days | 20 days (Dec 11, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $148.4M
- P/E (TTM)
- 18.4
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.34
- Revenue (TTM)
- $234.4M
- Dividend yield
- 1.79%
- 52-week range
- $17.61 – $29.91
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $246.5M | $279.3M | $258.9M | $272.8M | $249.0M |
| Gross profit | $56.8M | $58.6M | $61.8M | $67.3M | $56.4M |
| Operating income | $17.4M | $14.2M | $17.0M | $20.1M | $10.1M |
| Net income | $9.3M | $12.3M | $8.6M | -$8.5M | $5.1M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.49 | $1.97 | $1.37 | -$1.37 | $0.84 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $71.3M | $66.7M | $63.3M | $70.2M | $55.3M | $57.5M | $59.7M | $61.8M |
| Net income | -$15.3M | $1.3M | $1.9M | $1.4M | $578,936 | $1.2M | $640,130 | $5.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$2.47 | $0.21 | $0.32 | $0.56 | $0.10 | $0.19 | $0.11 | $0.94 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | -$2.0M | $10.5M | $26.5M | $20.6M | $8.9M |
| Capital expenditure | -$3.7M | -$3.4M | -$6.4M | -$9.7M | -$4.0M |
| Free cash flow | -$5.7M | $7.1M | $20.0M | $10.8M | $4.9M |
| Dividends paid | -$2.8M | -$2.7M | -$2.8M | -$2.7M | -$2.7M |
| Net share buybacks | -$369,651 | -$1.6M | -$735,783 | -$3.1M | -$3.7M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $15.1M
- Total assets
- $245.1M
- Total liabilities
- $115.1M
- Total debt
- $61.5M
- Net debt
- $46.4M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $130.0M
As of Jul 4, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 2026 | $0.11 | Sep 15, 2026 |
| May 15, 2026 | $0.11 | Jun 15, 2026 |
| Feb 13, 2026 | $0.11 | Mar 13, 2026 |
| Nov 14, 2025 | $0.11 | Dec 15, 2025 |
| Aug 15, 2025 | $0.11 | Sep 15, 2025 |
| May 15, 2025 | $0.11 | Jun 16, 2025 |
| Feb 14, 2025 | $0.11 | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Nov 15, 2024 | $0.11 | Dec 13, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 102,933
- Days to cover
- 7.95
- Change vs previous report
- +22.4%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Oct 18, 2006
- 3-for-2
- Jun 16, 1999
- 3-for-2
- Mar 18, 1991
- 3-for-2
- Jun 16, 1988
- 2-for-1
- Jun 29, 1977
- 3-for-2