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what it is
Kimball builds electronics and medical devices for other companies across the U.S., China, Mexico, Poland, Romania, and Thailand.
how it gets paid
Last year Kimball Electronics made $1.5B in revenue.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 13.3% last year. 8.0% gross margin is the real number to watch because this business lives or dies by a few hundred basis points.
what just happened
Latest quarter revenue hit $707M and EPS reached $0.55, both well above last year.
At a glance
B balance sheet — gets the job done, barely
45/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
32.8x trailing p/e — you're paying up for this one
3.5% return on capital — nothing to write home about
$0.68 fy2025 eps est
xvary composite: 61/100 — average
What they do
Kimball builds electronics and medical devices for other companies across the U.S., China, Mexico, Poland, Romania, and Thailand.
Kimball wins because customers hand over production they cannot afford to mess up. The company runs 5,700 employees across six countries, so your medical or industrial product can move through one global system instead of a patchwork of vendors. Contract manufacturing organization → outsourced production partner → so what: customers stay when reliability matters more than squeezing the last penny.
How they make money
$1.5B
annual revenue · revenue declined -13.3% last year
total revenue
$1.5B
13.3%
The products that matter
medical electronics manufacturing
Medical
$525M · 35% of revenue
This $525M segment grew 15% even as total company revenue fell 13.3%. If you want the stock to earn its multiple, this is the segment carrying the argument.
only growth pocket
auto systems manufacturing
Automotive
$675M · 45% of revenue
It is the biggest segment at $675M, but sales fell 8%. That's a problem because the largest piece of the business is not helping the growth story.
largest segment
industrial electronics manufacturing
Industrial
$300M · 20% of revenue
This $300M segment dropped 12%. It is smaller than Automotive, but it adds to the drag instead of offsetting it.
still shrinking
Key numbers
32.8x
trailing p/e
Price-to-earnings → how much you pay for each dollar of profit → so what: you are paying a premium multiple for a company with falling annual revenue and 6.1% operating margin.
6.1%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → so what: Kimball keeps just $6.10 from every $100 of sales before interest and taxes.
3.5%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit generated from money tied up in the business → so what: the business is not turning invested dollars into strong returns.
$142M
long-term debt
Debt is 21% of capital. Plain English: borrowed money is a real part of the stack. So what: that is manageable, but it looks less comfortable when returns are only 3.5%.
Financial health
B
strength
- balance sheet grade B — adequate — nothing special
- risk rank 2 — safer than 80% of stocks
- price stability 40 / 100
- long-term debt $142M (21% of capital)
B — functional but not a standout on the balance sheet.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for KE right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
beat estimates
Latest quarter revenue hit $707M and EPS reached $0.55, both well above last year.
Revenue rose 107% vs. prior year and EPS rose 267%. Gross margin was still just 8.0%, which is the part that keeps this from looking clean.
$707M
revenue
$0.55
eps
8.0%
gross margin
the number that mattered
8.0% gross margin is the real number to watch because this business lives or dies by a few hundred basis points. Gross margin → money left after production costs → so what: there is no room for sloppiness.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk here is not some abstract macro cloud. It is customer concentration inside a low-margin manufacturing model.
med
Customer concentration
Management already depends on a few large customers across a $1.5B revenue base. In a business with an 8.2% gross margin, losing one big program hurts twice — first on sales, then on factory utilization.
The current page says one major client could erase more than 10% of annual sales. On $1.5B of revenue, that is not a paper cut.
med
Trade and tariff exposure
Kimball runs a global manufacturing footprint, so tariff or trade-policy changes do not just create headline noise. They can change input costs and customer ordering behavior at the same time.
That pressure lands on an 8.2% gross margin. When your margin is single-digit, you do not need a huge shock to feel it.
med
Margin reversal
Gross margin improved 160 basis points and operating margin rose to 4.5%, which is good news. It also raises the bar. If those gains came from mix or temporary efficiency, they can unwind.
A slide back toward the prior 6.6% gross margin would make a 32.8x trailing multiple look even less forgiving.
A forced reset in any one of those areas would pressure earnings quickly because the business does not have fat margins to absorb bad news.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
earnings
next update on segment mix
You want to see whether Medical can keep offsetting weakness elsewhere. If that 15% growth slows while Automotive and Industrial are still shrinking, the story gets thin fast.
trend
Medical versus the other 65%
Medical is 35% of revenue and growing. Automotive plus Industrial are 65% and shrinking. That contrast is the whole page in one sentence.
risk
customer concentration disclosures
This is the risk that can break the thesis without warning. If one major customer matters more than expected, low margins leave very little protection.
metric
gross margin
Track 8.2%. If that starts slipping back after the recent improvement, the case for paying 32.8x earnings gets much harder to defend.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
mixed
coverage is thin and the operating picture is split. in human-speak, analysts do not have a clean shared view.
risk profile
moderate
the balance sheet is better than the margin profile. risk rank 2 says this is safer than many small caps, but 40/100 price stability says the stock can still move around.
chart momentum
headline-driven
with a 52-week range of $12–$33, this name does not need much to swing. Small earnings changes can have oversized effects when valuation is already rich.
earnings predictability
45/100
predictability this low means the business mix is still doing the talking. You should expect more variance here than in a steady compounder.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for KE is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$31
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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