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what it is
Fortune Brands sells the stuff inside your house upgrade: faucets, doors, windows, and security products.
how it gets paid
Last year Fortune Brands made $4.5B in revenue. faucets and water products was the main engine at $2.48B, or 55% of sales.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 3.2% last year. The 2026 EPS guide of $3.35 to $3.65 matters most because even the high end sits below the $4.00 longer-range estimate.
what just happened
The quarter was about a miss: EPS came in at $0.86 versus a $1.00 estimate.
At a glance
B++ balance sheet — above average — nothing keeping you up at night
80/100 earnings predictability — you can trust these numbers
14.5x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
2.1% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
12.5% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 60/100 — average
What they do
Fortune Brands sells the stuff inside your house upgrade: faucets, doors, windows, and security products.
This business wins where homeowners hate mistakes. You replace a faucet or front door once, then you buy the brand your plumber, builder, or dealer already trusts. Operating margin → profit after running the business → 21.5%, so about $21.50 stays from every $100 of sales.
How they make money
$4.5B
annual revenue · their business grew -3.2% last year
faucets and water products
$2.48B
+6.0%
entry doors
$0.93B
3.2%
windows
$0.42B
3.2%
security and connected access
$0.67B
3.2%
The products that matter
plumbing fixtures and faucets
Moen
inside a $4.5B revenue base
Moen sits inside the company’s $4.5B revenue base, and that base still earned a 10.1% net margin. The page does not show Moen’s exact sales, so the right read is brand importance, not fake precision.
brand anchor
locks and security hardware
Master Lock
part of the same $4.5B business
Master Lock is one of the portfolio names people know on sight. The snapshot does not split out its revenue, but the combined company still delivered 18% return on equity, which tells you the brands are doing more than taking up shelf space.
household name
repair and renovation basket
home spend exposure
100% of sales exposed
This is not a one-product story. It is a $4.5B basket of home spending. Revenue fell 3.2% last year, which tells you the pressure was broad enough to hit the whole basket.
cyclical exposure
Key numbers
34%
valuation gap
$70 is 34% above $52.37, which tells you the stock is priced for a housing slump that lasts.
21.5%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → so what: this is still a strong brand business, not a commodity seller.
$2.5B
long debt
Debt equals 29% of capital, which is manageable but leaves less room for mistakes if housing stays weak.
12.5%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit earned on money invested → so what: the business is decent, but not elite, at turning investment into profit.
Financial health
B++
strength
- balance sheet grade B++ — above average financial health
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 55 / 100
- long-term debt $2.5B (29% of capital)
- net profit margin 12.1% — keeps 12 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 18% — $0.18 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B++ — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in FBIN 3 years ago → it's now worth $8,920.
The index would have given you $14,540.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
missed estimates
The quarter was about a miss: EPS came in at $0.86 versus a $1.00 estimate.
Fortune Brands ended 2025 with full-year EPS of $3.61, down from $4.12 in 2024. The issue was not survival. It was that guidance and confidence both got cut at once.
$1.08B
revenue
$0.86
eps
42.0%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The 2026 EPS guide of $3.35 to $3.65 matters most because even the high end sits below the $4.00 longer-range estimate.
-
fortune brands stock price experienced a solid rally early in 2026, but has since pulled back.
-
the equity’s quotation fell to a 52-week low near $44 in the fall of 2025 during peak housing pessimism, then rebounded into january and early february as the broader market improved and some housing data points stabilized.then the company reported fourth-quarter earnings of $0.86 per share against the wall street consensus of $1.00. revenues came in at $1.08 billion versus expectations of $1.14 billion, and management provided a full-year 2026 eps forecast of $3.35 to $3.65, which was well below previous expectations. on the same call, ceo nick fink announced he was leaving the company to pursue an outside opportunity, with board member amit banati named as his successor effective in early may. this news sent fbin shares into a tailspin in mid-february, erasing the entire advance that had been achieved earlier this year.
-
a planned change in leadership has not been well received by some key investors.activist investor ed garden built a meaningful stake in fortune brands and has been pushing to block mr.
-
banati from taking the ceo role.
-
mr.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is housing turnover and repair spend staying weak for longer.
med
housing turnover stays soft
Fortune Brands sells into the same broad home wallet across faucets, fixtures, and security hardware. If fewer homes change hands and renovation budgets stay tight, the pressure hits across the portfolio at once.
Impact: 100% of the company’s $4.5B revenue base is tied to the same repair, remodel, and housing cycle.
med
the CEO handoff turns into a strategy reset
Leadership changes are easier when the business is humming. Here they arrive after revenue fell 3.2% and guidance reset to $3.35–$3.65. If the first few quarters under Amit Banati sound more like diagnosis than direction, patience gets expensive.
Impact: the 14.5x multiple can stay stuck or compress further if investors decide this is not a transition but a re-underwrite.
med
margin resilience breaks with volume
A 10.1% net margin is respectable for home products. It is not a giant cushion. If volumes fall again, fixed costs matter more and the brand-quality argument loses some cover.
Impact: a business keeping about 10 cents of each revenue dollar does not need a huge demand hit to produce a much smaller earnings number.
A prolonged slowdown would pressure the full $4.5B revenue base while management is already asking you to trust a transition year and a new CEO.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
key metric
whether revenue gets back above the $4.5B base
Last year already showed a 3.2% decline. The stock does not need perfect growth. It does need proof the shrink is over.
risk
2026 EPS against the $3.35–$3.65 guide
That range is the current reality check. If results land below the low end, the “cheap” valuation story gets weaker fast.
leadership
the first calls under Amit Banati
New CEOs inherit the quarter they report. You want stabilization language, not another explanation for why the reset took longer.
flow
whether institutional selling keeps going
Three straight quarters of net selling does not settle the thesis, but it tells you large holders have wanted less exposure, not more.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
average
Momentum score 3 — in human-speak, analysts see a stock waiting for a cleaner quarter.
risk profile
average
Stability score 3 means this sits near the middle of the market on risk. Not a bunker stock. Not chaos either.
chart momentum
average
Technical score 3 says the chart is ordinary. After the post-earnings reset, ordinary means conviction has not come back yet.
earnings predictability
80 / 100
This business usually reports in a steady range. That makes the recent miss more important, because it broke the pattern.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net selling for 3 consecutive quarters — 149 buyers vs. 212 sellers in 4q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.1B shares. net selling for 3 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$40
$99
$52
current price
$70
target midpoint · +34% from current · 3-5yr high: $125 (+140% · 26% ann'l return)
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