Stocks · Industrials · Security & Protection Services
MSA Safety Incorporated MSA
$181.23 +1.23% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $7.00B
High qualityLow risk
Next earnings report: Oct 27, 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
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 14 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +6.8%).
- The shares trade at 22.5× trailing earnings, lower than 90% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 52 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
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.
Growth60Neutral
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 43%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 42%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 30%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 39%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 44%
Quality93Exceptional
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 12%
- Gross marginTop 14%
- Operating marginTop 7%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 36%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 44%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 33%
- Interest coverTop 18%
Value73Positive
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 24%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 30%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 40%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 29%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 16%
Momentum59Neutral
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 50%
- 6-month returnTop 41%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 49%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 22%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 42%
Revisions64Neutral
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 45%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 5%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 50%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 25%
Stability90Exceptional
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 10%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 21%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 32%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 33%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 5.6% | 6.5% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 2.1% | 14.7% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 46.8% | 47.6% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 20.4% | 23.3% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 13.8% | 18.2% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 6.5% | 5.6% | ↑ | Bottom 43% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 14.7% | 2.1% | ↑ | Top 42% |
| Gross margin | 47.6% | 46.8% | ↑ | Top 14% |
| Operating margin | 23.3% | 20.4% | ↑ | Top 7% |
| Net margin | 16.1% | 15.2% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 18.2% | 13.8% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 15.0% | — | Top 12% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 7.1% | — | Top 39% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.29×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -3.5%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -2.3 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 0.85×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 14.0×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.18%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 1.66%
- Shareholder yield
- 2.85%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.9%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.4%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 14
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +6.8%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.4%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 2 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $210.00
- Target vs current price
- +15.9%
- Analysts with a rating
- 12
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 58%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | +12.1% | -0.8% | +9.7% | +8.4% | — |
| May 4, 2026 | +7.6% | -0.3% | +2.5% | -1.6% | +6.0% |
| Feb 11, 2026 | +5.3% | +1.1% | +2.6% | -5.7% | -11.7% |
| Oct 28, 2025 | +2.1% | -2.4% | -6.5% | -7.6% | +8.8% |
| Aug 4, 2025 | +9.7% | +1.3% | -0.6% | -2.6% | -4.8% |
| Apr 29, 2025 | +6.3% | +1.1% | +2.0% | +6.4% | +15.9% |
| Feb 12, 2025 | +0.9% | -1.6% | -4.2% | -9.0% | -4.8% |
| Oct 23, 2024 | +1.1% | -1.2% | -0.8% | -0.8% | -1.9% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | $2.40 | $2.14 | +12.1% | $503.3M |
| May 4, 2026 | $1.99 | $1.85 | +7.6% | $463.6M |
| Feb 11, 2026 | $2.38 | $2.26 | +5.3% | $511.0M |
| Oct 28, 2025 | $1.94 | $1.90 | +2.1% | $468.4M |
| Aug 4, 2025 | $1.93 | $1.76 | +9.7% | $474.1M |
| Apr 29, 2025 | $1.68 | $1.58 | +6.3% | $421.3M |
| Feb 12, 2025 | $2.25 | $2.23 | +0.9% | $499.7M |
| Oct 23, 2024 | $1.83 | $1.81 | +1.1% | $432.7M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 22.5× | 29.6× | 10th | Top 24% |
| P/E (forward) | 19.9× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 14.3× | — | — | Top 40% |
| EV / Sales | 3.82× | — | — | Bottom 29% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 5.06% | — | — | Top 30% |
| Earnings yield | 4.44% | — | — | Top 24% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 21.5× – 298.3× 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
- +5.1%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +14.7%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -7.8%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
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
- 52
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +2.4%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.2%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -2.2%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +2.7%
- RSI (14)
- 47.7
- Relative volume
- 0.92×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 24.4%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 51th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.85
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.55
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -10.8%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -34.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 16, 2021 | Sep 30, 2022 | -36.6% | 410 days | 186 days (Jun 29, 2023) |
| Jul 16, 2024 | Apr 7, 2025 | -34.9% | 182 days | 214 days (Feb 12, 2026) |
| Feb 12, 2026 | Jun 10, 2026 | -23.1% | 81 days | Not yet recovered |
| Sep 1, 2023 | Oct 23, 2023 | -20.0% | 35 days | 90 days (Mar 4, 2024) |
| Apr 5, 2024 | Jun 7, 2024 | -12.1% | 44 days | 25 days (Jul 16, 2024) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $7.00B
- P/E (TTM)
- 22.5
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $8.04
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.95B
- Dividend yield
- 1.18%
- 52-week range
- $151.10 – $208.92
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.40B | $1.53B | $1.79B | $1.81B | $1.87B |
| Gross profit | $615.3M | $673.8M | $852.1M | $860.4M | $871.1M |
| Operating income | $22.8M | $239.1M | $231.3M | $389.2M | $402.0M |
| Net income | $21.3M | $179.6M | $58.6M | $285.0M | $278.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.54 | $4.56 | $1.48 | $7.21 | $7.09 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $432.7M | $499.7M | $421.3M | $474.1M | $468.4M | $510.9M | $463.6M | $503.3M |
| Net income | $66.6M | $87.9M | $59.6M | $62.8M | $69.6M | $86.9M | $71.3M | $86.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.69 | $2.22 | $1.51 | $1.59 | $1.77 | $2.21 | $1.83 | $2.23 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $199.1M | $157.5M | $92.9M | $296.4M | $363.9M |
| Capital expenditure | -$49.1M | -$43.9M | -$42.8M | -$54.2M | -$68.4M |
| Free cash flow | $150.0M | $113.5M | $50.1M | $242.2M | $295.4M |
| Dividends paid | -$68.5M | -$71.5M | -$73.4M | -$78.7M | -$82.3M |
| Net share buybacks | $454,000 | -$28.9M | -$1.5M | -$35.5M | -$87.4M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $200.1M
- Total assets
- $2.60B
- Total liabilities
- $1.20B
- Total debt
- $643.5M
- Net debt
- $443.5M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.40B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 2026 | $0.54 | Sep 10, 2026 |
| May 15, 2026 | $0.54 | Jun 10, 2026 |
| Feb 13, 2026 | $0.53 | Mar 10, 2026 |
| Nov 14, 2025 | $0.53 | Dec 10, 2025 |
| Aug 15, 2025 | $0.53 | Sep 10, 2025 |
| May 15, 2025 | $0.53 | Jun 10, 2025 |
| Feb 14, 2025 | $0.51 | Mar 10, 2025 |
| Nov 15, 2024 | $0.51 | Dec 10, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 877,763
- Days to cover
- 4.24
- Change vs previous report
- +8.5%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jan 29, 2004
- 3-for-1
- May 25, 2000
- 3-for-1
- Sep 11, 1985
- 2-for-1
- May 16, 1980
- 2-for-1
- Apr 26, 1977
- 2-for-1