QualityDipStocks / Consumer Discretionary · Professional Services
Exponent EXPO
Outside our quality screen, so we don’t track its dips. It’s at its 52-week high.
Outside our quality screen, trading well above our fair value estimate.
- Fair value est.
- $37.74−56%
- Market Value
- forming
- Off 52-wk high
- at the high
- Risk vs market
- Lowbeta 0.35
4 bullish · 5 bearish See why
Repriced or dip?
Near its high
The price is 0% below its 52-week high (Nov 2), but the business held up: shares outstanding unchanged, operating margin 0.0 pts, free cash flow 0.0%.
Some numbers held up (shares outstanding unchanged, operating margin 0.0 pts, free cash flow 0.0%), others slipped. The price is 0% below its 52-week high.
The price is 0% below its 52-week high, and the business changed too.
Within 10% of its 52-week high, so there is no dip to judge yet.
Data-based read, not advice.
Priced in
How much growth the market assumed at the 52-week high, the low and today (a reverse DCF).
At the high ($86.58, Nov 2) the price assumed about 19%/yr free-cash-flow growth; at the low ($53.67, May 14) about 10%; today about 19%. The last 3 years delivered 14%/yr (free cash flow).
Dashed line: what the last 3 years delivered, 14%/yr (free cash flow)
| High | Low | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $86.58Nov 2 | $53.67May 14 | $86.58 |
| Implied growth | +19% | +10% | +19% |
| P/E | 37.9× | 24.7× | 37.9× |
| P/FCF | 39.1× | 23.7× | 39.1× |
What this means: the higher the implied growth, the more the price already counts on. If today's number sits well below what the business has delivered, the market expects less than its track record.
How it’s computed
Reverse DCF: the same 10-year free-cash-flow model as our fair value estimate (9.5% discount rate, growth for years 1–5 fading to 3% by year 10, 3% after), solved for the growth that makes it equal the market value at each price. For the high and the low we use only the filings that were public on that day, so nothing from a later report leaks back. Market value = that close × diluted shares. P/E = market value / 12-month net income; Price / FCF = market value / 12-month free cash flow; EV / Sales = (market value + debt − cash) / 12-month revenue. Hidden when the share count moved over 20% (split, merger), free cash flow is negative, or the company reports in another currency.
Valuation
What we estimate it's worth, and how it ranks on value vs every stock we cover.
Fair value estimate
How the range is computed
Ten-year free-cash-flow DCF. Same 10-year free-cash-flow model as the base: discount rate 9.5% ±1 point and growth 4.3% ±2 points. Bear = 10.5% and 2.3%; bull = 8.5% and 6.3% (both fade to 3%). A model estimate from public filings, not a forecast of where the price will go.
Price is above even the bull case.
What the price implies To be worth today’s price, EXPO’s free cash flow would need to grow about 19% a year for five years; our estimate uses 4%.
Risk vs market
How risk vs market is measured
One year of daily returns (Oct 31 to Nov 2, 252 sessions). Beta = how much EXPO moved for each 1% move in the S&P 500 (SPY); 1.0 moves with the market. Volatility is the yearly standard deviation of daily returns. Past behavior, not a forecast.
Moves much less than the market, but its own price swings are 2.7× the S&P 500’s (it moves on its own news).
- Beta vs S&P 500
- 0.35
- Volatility
- 34% vs 13% SPY
- Correlation SPY
- 0.13
- Correlation QQQ
- −0.02
How it ranks
Where EXPO stands vs every one of the 1,996 stocks we cover that has the number. Longer bar = better.
Top quarter on 1 of 5 measures
- Discount to fair value estimate56% · price above our base caseLowest 9%of 1,314
- Free cash flow yield2.6% · free cash flow vs market capLowest 33%of 1,391
- Dividends + buybacks yield6.4% · cash paid out or used to retire shares, vs market capTop 17%of 1,836
- Revenue growth, last 12 months+13% · vs the 12 months beforeTop 39%of 1,814
- Operating margin20% · of sales kept as operating profitTop 28%of 1,288
From SEC filings and our fair value estimate model. A ranking, not advice.
Valuation details
DCF $37.74 · FCF value $58.07
Assumes 4.3% growth for 5 years (revenue grew 4.3% a year FY22–FY26), fading to 3%; 9.5% discount rate, 3% terminal growth. FCF base $2.22 a share (trailing 12 months to Jul 3, 2026), from the 10-Q filed Aug 7, 2026.
Fundamentals
The business itself: sales, profits, cash and debt, from SEC filings.
Bull vs bear
Rule-based from the data on this page, strongest first. Not advice.
Top bullish points 4 of 5
Cash returnsShare count down 4.9% in a year: $211M of buybacks over 12 months.
ProfitabilityReturn on equity of 31% over the last 12 months.
GrowthSales grew 13% to $632M over the last 12 months vs the 12 months before (SEC filings).
ProfitabilityOperating margin of 20%, above the 11% median for the 341 Consumer Discretionary companies we cover.
Top bearish points 5 of 5
ValuationOur DCF fair value estimate is $37.74, 56% below the price.
ValuationP/E of 37.9× vs a 20.7× median for the 341 Consumer Discretionary companies we cover.
ValuationFree-cash-flow yield of 2.6%, below the 5.5% median for the 352 Consumer Discretionary companies we cover.
ValuationPrice / book of 14.7×, above the 3.2× median for the 336 Consumer Discretionary companies we cover.
TechnicalRSI(14) of 86: overbought after a strong run.
All fundamentals
P/E 37.9 · FCF yield 2.6% · ROE 31%
Valuation
- P/E
- 37.9×Consumer Discretionary median 20.7×
- Price / FCF
- 39.1×
- FCF yield
- 2.6%
- EV / EBITDA
- n/aD&A or debt not tagged in SEC data
- Price / sales
- 6.71×
- Price / book
- 14.70×
- Market cap
- $4.2Bprice × diluted shares
- Enterprise value
- n/anot reported in its SEC filings
Growth
- Revenue, 12 months
- $632M
- Sales growth, 12 months
- +12.8%vs the 12 months before
- Sales growth, 3 yrs
- +4.3%/yrfrom FY2022
- Diluted EPS, 12 months
- $2.23
- EPS growth, last FY
- −1.9%
- Net income, 12 months
- $112M
- Net income growth
- +9%12 months vs before
Profitability
- Gross margin
- n/agross profit isn't reported (common for service and financial companies)
- Operating margin
- 20.2%
- Net margin
- 17.7%
- FCF margin
- 17.2%
- Return on equity
- 31%
- Return on invested capital
- n/aoperating income, debt, equity or cash not tagged
Balance sheet
- Cash & short-term inv.
- $67M
- Total debt
- n/anot reported in its SEC filings
- Net cash
- n/acash or debt not tagged in SEC data
- Debt / equity
- n/adebt or equity not tagged in SEC data
- Interest coverage
- n/ainterest expense not tagged in SEC data
Cash flow & returns
- Free cash flow, 12 months
- $109M
- FCF growth, 12 months
- −10%
- Dividend yield
- 1.42%$60M paid
- Payout ratio
- 54%
- Buybacks, 12 months
- $211M5.0% of market cap
- Share count, 1 year
- −4.9%diluted shares vs a year ago
- Stock-based comp
- $26M
Trailing 12 months to Jul 3, 2026; balance sheet at Jul 3, 2026. From Exponent’s SEC filings. Sparklines show up to six fiscal years. n/a means we don’t hold that number, with the reason. How each is computed.
The business
FCF $0.1B · Sales +12%
- Free cash flow, 12 months$0.1B
- Free-cash-flow yield2.6%
- Gross margin38%
- Operating margin27%
- Return on invested capital47%
- Return on equity32%
- Sales growth (latest quarter vs year-ago quarter)+12%
- Net debt / EBITDA−0.2×
Chart & levels
Where the price is vs its key levels and trends.
Key levels
Every level vs today’s $86.58
- Fair value est.base case$37.74−56.4%
- 52-wk lowlowest close, 1 year$53.67−38.0%
- PriceMon Nov 2 close$86.58you are here
- 52-wk highhighest close, 1 year$86.58at the price
Momentum & 52-week range
RSI 86 · 5 days +11.5%
Signals
Reversal signal setups, the public ledger and the next earnings date.
Setup & signals
No setup armed
No setup armed, so there’s no trigger or stop to track yet. Reversal signal rules only run on companies that pass our quality screen.
EXPO is outside our quality screen
One text when a published rule fires on one of the 332 quality companies we track: the ticker, the price, the stop and a link to the numbers. Nothing else.
Voices & buzz
Who is talking about it, and how it compares with peers.
Who’s talking about it
Notable investors, executives, analysts and public figures on Exponent in the last 48 hours. Headlines as published, each linked. Their words, not ours.
No notable mentions in the last 48 hours. Checked Nov 3, 1:01 PM ET.
Compare with peers
Closest in size in Professional Services
Information only, not investment advice. Fair value estimates and talking points are rule-based model output from public data and can be wrong; stop levels are reference points, not orders. How every number is computed.