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what it is
Plexus designs, tests, and builds electronics for other companies, then manages the parts circus across 25,000 employees worldwide.
how it gets paid
Last year Plexus made $4.0B in revenue. Industrial was the main engine at $1.64B, or 41% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 1.8% last year. Over the next few quarters, leadership expects top-line growth from a&d to exceed the high end of its 9%-12% goal, driven by improved defense demand.
what just happened
Plexus opened fiscal 2026 with $1.07B in revenue and EPS of $1.78, ahead of the $1.75 expectation.
At a glance
A balance sheet — strong enough to weather a downturn
80/100 earnings predictability — you can trust these numbers
25.8x trailing p/e — priced about right
15.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 76/100 — average
What they do
Plexus designs, tests, and builds electronics for other companies, then manages the parts circus across 25,000 employees worldwide.
Plexus sells complexity control. Contract manufacturing → building products for other brands → so what: your customer hands over a messy supply chain and gets one operator across the U.S., Mexico, China, Malaysia, Thailand, the U.K., Germany, and Romania. That footprint supports $4.0 billion in annual revenue with just $91 million of long-term debt, or 2% of capital, which gives it room when customers panic.
How they make money
$4.0B
annual revenue · their business grew +1.8% last year
Industrial
$1.64B
+1.8%
Healthcare and Life Sciences
$1.20B
+1.8%
Aerospace and Defense
$0.88B
+12.0%
Other programs
$0.28B
+1.8%
The products that matter
builds complex electronics for customers
Electronic Manufacturing Services
$4.0B revenue · latest quarter $1.07B
it's the whole business. the latest quarter reached $1.07B in revenue, with healthcare contributing $466M and aerospace & defense adding $178M.
100% of revenue
Key numbers
$210
near-term target
That is only about 10% above the current $191.58 price, so you are not buying a huge gap between today's price and the next 18 months.
25.8x
price multiple
P/E ratio → how many dollars investors pay for one dollar of profit → so what: you are paying a full price for a company with a 5.5% net margin.
15.0%
capital return
Return on capital → profit earned on the money used in the business → so what: Plexus turns operations into decent returns, better than its 8.5% operating margin suggests.
$91M
long-term debt
That is just 2% of capital, which means the balance sheet can absorb customer noise better than a debt-heavy manufacturer.
Financial health
A
strength
- balance sheet grade A — very strong financial position
- risk rank 3 — safer than 50% of stocks
- price stability 60 / 100
- long-term debt $91M (2% of capital)
- net profit margin 5.5% — keeps 6 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 15% — $0.15 profit for every $1 investors have put in
A — among the top-rated companies for balance sheet quality.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in PLXS 3 years ago → it's now worth $19,690.
The index would have given you $14,540.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
beat estimates
Plexus opened fiscal 2026 with $1.07B in revenue and EPS of $1.78, ahead of the $1.75 expectation.
Revenue rose 10% vs. prior year in fiscal Q1 2026. Aerospace and defense demand stayed strong, and gross margin held at 9.9% while operating margin came in at 5.8% on a non-GAAP basis.
$1.07B
revenue
$1.78
eps
9.9%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The 10% revenue growth mattered most because full-year trailing revenue had grown just 1.8%, so Q1 showed the pace can re-accelerate.
-
plexus kicked off its fiscal 2026 campaign with a solid start. (year ends the saturday closest to september 30th.) revenue in the december period jumped 9.6% vs. prior year, to $1.07 billion.the electronic manufacturing services provider generated $178 million of revenue from its aerospace & defense (a&d) end market in the fiscal first quarter of 2026.
-
the figure was up 11.3% compared to the comparable year-ago period.
-
over the next few quarters, leadership expects top-line growth from a&d to exceed the high end of its 9%-12% goal, driven by improved defense demand and new program ramps.
-
also, production bottlenecks at boeing and airbus have diminished of late.
-
in the health care & life sciences lines, plexus generated $466 million of revenue in quarter one, which amounted to a very impressive 24.6% vs. prior year gain.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is program timing and customer demand in healthcare and aerospace manufacturing.
med
healthcare concentration in the current quarter
health care & life sciences was $466M of the latest $1.07B quarter. if customer orders pause, the recent growth narrative cools fast.
that single end market represented roughly 44% of quarterly revenue based on the numbers disclosed here.
med
aerospace ramp timing
aerospace & defense brought in $178M in the latest quarter and management expects growth above the high end of its 9%–12% goal.
if program ramps slip or aircraft supply chains jam again, that expectation resets downward and the multiple probably follows.
med
margin math is unforgiving
PLXS runs on a 4.8% net margin. That's workable, but it leaves little room for procurement mistakes, idle capacity, or pricing pressure.
every point of margin pressure on a $4.0B revenue base is roughly $40M of profit. low-margin models do not need dramatic mistakes to feel painful.
the risk picture is straightforward: when you pay 25.8x earnings for a company keeping 4.8% of revenue as profit, you need the current healthcare and aerospace momentum to keep showing up.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
healthcare staying hot
the latest quarter delivered $466M and 24.6% growth from a year ago. if that cools materially, the best part of the story cools with it.
trend
aerospace beating the target range
management said aerospace & defense growth should run above the high end of its 9%–12% goal over the next few quarters. that is the claim to verify.
risk
margin discipline
a 4.8% net margin works only if operations stay tight. this is the quiet part of the thesis: efficiency is not optional here.
calendar
the next earnings print
you want the next update to confirm that the $1.07B quarter was the start of a steadier growth run, not just one clean quarter with good mix.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
top 20%
momentum score 2 — analysts expect above-average price performance in the year ahead. in human-speak, they like the setup.
risk profile
average
stability score 3 — this sits in the middle. not a bunker stock, not a chaos stock.
chart momentum
average
technical score 3 — the chart is not screaming anything unusual right now.
earnings predictability
80 / 100
management's numbers tend to be reliable. that matters more in a 4.8% margin business.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net buying for 2 consecutive quarters — 118 buyers vs. 98 sellers in 4q2025. total institutional holdings: 26.8M shares. net buying for 2 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$142
$278
$192
current price
$210
target midpoint · +10% from current · 3-5yr high: $280 (+45% · 10% ann'l return)
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