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what it is
Methode makes custom electronic parts for cars, factories, and network gear.
how it gets paid
Last year Methode Elec made $1.0B in revenue.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 6.0% last year. The 10.0% beat mattered because the business is still posting $721M quarters and negative EPS.
what just happened
Methode posted -$0.45 versus a -$0.50 estimate, a 10.0% beat.
At a glance
C+ balance sheet — struggling to keep the lights on
25/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
3.9% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
6.3% return on capital — nothing to write home about
-$1.12 fy2024 eps est
xvary composite: 28/100 — weak
What they do
Methode makes custom electronic parts for cars, factories, and network gear.
Methode builds custom parts for cars, factories, and network gear. Custom work means customers do not switch fast, because retooling costs money and time. It has 6,500 employees, so the business is broad enough to serve many niches.
How they make money
$1.0B
annual revenue · revenue declined -6.0% last year
total revenue
$1.0B
6.0%
The products that matter
dashboard controls and displays
User Interface & HMI
inside a roughly $1B revenue base
These products help sell the engineering story. The company still keeps only 18.0% gross margin overall. That tells you customization has not turned into real pricing power.
18.0% gross margin
vehicle and industrial lighting
LED Lighting Systems
Q3 company sales $233.7M
Lighting is part of the recovery pitch. Total Q3 2026 sales were $233.7M, down 3% from last year. The burden of proof is still on management.
mixed demand
sensors and power distribution parts
Sensors & Power Distribution
4.5% operating margin
Electrification exposure sounds good on a slide. At a 4.5% operating margin, the issue is monetizing that exposure, not describing it.
low-margin exposure
Key numbers
$1.0B
annual revenue
You get $1.0B of sales for a $182M market cap. That gap is the whole story.
-$1.12
fy2024 eps
A -$1.12 EPS tells you the business lost money last year. No profit, no cushion.
4.5%
operating margin
Only 4.5 cents of each sales dollar stayed after operating costs. One bad quarter hurts fast.
66%
debt share
Debt is 66% of capital, so creditors get paid before your upside does.
Financial health
C+
strength
- balance sheet grade C+ — weak — may struggle to fund operations
- risk rank 5 — safer than 5% of stocks
- price stability 10 / 100
- long-term debt $348M (66% of capital)
C+ — balance sheet grade and long-term debt are flagged. this stock carries more risk than average.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for MEI right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
beat estimates
Methode posted -$0.45 versus a -$0.50 estimate, a 10.0% beat.
That was the clean beat. EDGAR's latest quarter still showed $721M in revenue and -$1.02 EPS. One quarter looked less bad than feared. Another looked worse than the street remembers.
$1.0B
revenue
$0.45
eps
18.0%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The 10.0% beat mattered because the business is still posting $721M quarters and negative EPS.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
The biggest risk is simple: the business never gets past stabilization. With sales still down from last year and $348M in long-term debt, this company does not have the luxury of a long, messy turnaround.
med
revenue keeps shrinking
Q3 2026 sales fell 3% to $233.7M. For a business already down 6.0% last year, another slide would tell you the base is still not stable.
If adjusted EBITDA lands near or below the low end of the $70–$80M guide, debt becomes a bigger part of the story than operations.
med
auto exposure is the real concentration risk
Automotive is roughly $700M of a $1B revenue base. That means you are mostly riding OEM production schedules and customer pricing pressure whether the company calls itself diversified or not.
When 70% of revenue sits in one end market, a weak auto cycle does not stay in the background. It becomes the income statement.
med
the dividend may be asking too much
MEI pays a 3.9% yield while expected EPS is -$1.12. That is friendly shareholder optics paired with unfriendly earnings math.
If cash demands rise, the dividend is one of the few levers management can pull quickly to protect the balance sheet.
med
low margins leave almost no buffer
An 18.0% gross margin and 4.5% operating margin do not provide much shock absorption. In plain English: there is not much excess profit here to cushion bad volume or bad pricing.
On a company with only a $182M market cap, small margin misses can create large swings in how the equity is valued.
$182M of market value versus $348M in long-term debt tells you where the fragility sits. If revenue does not stabilize, equity holders feel it first.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
next report
Q4 results need to validate the $70–$80M EBITDA guide
If management finishes the year inside that range, you at least have a floor for the turnaround case. If it misses, the balance-sheet debate gets louder fast.
sales trend
the revenue line has to stop shrinking
One weak quarter is noise. Several quarters below last year is a business condition. You want evidence that the slide is ending.
capital allocation
debt and dividend are competing for the same cash
Watch whether management protects the 3.9% yield, prioritizes debt, or tries to do both. With $348M in long-term debt, that choice matters.
business mix
automotive still drives roughly 70% of revenue
If industrial and other stays around ~30% while auto stays soft, you are still looking at an auto-cycle story more than a broader recovery.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
25 / 100
Low predictability means future quarters are hard to model. In human-speak, analysts do not trust this business to print clean, repeatable numbers yet.
risk rank
5
A rank of 5 means it is safer than only 5% of stocks in the dataset. Translation: this sits near the risky end of the spectrum.
price stability
10 / 100
The stock does not trade like a quiet supplier. It trades like investors are still arguing about whether the turnaround is real.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for MEI is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$8
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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