Can Lincoln Electric (LECO) Keep Growing With Its Weakening Cash Flows?

By Susan Ramirez • Saturday, February 04 09:41 • Permanent Link

Industrials sector company Lincoln Electric posted a 1.4% performance Friday, while the S&P 500 returned -1.1%.

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells welding, cutting, and brazing products worldwide. The company is based in Cleveland and has 11,000 full time employees. Its market capitalization is $10,075,350,800. Lincoln Electric currently offers its equity investors a dividend that yields 1.3% per year.

7 analysts are following Lincoln Electric and have set target prices ranging from $145 to $185 per share. On average, they have given the company a rating of buy. At today's prices, LECO is trading 6.31% away from its average analyst target price of $164.14 per share.

Over the last year, LECO's share price has increased by 37.8%, which represents a difference of 45.5% when compared to the S&P 500. The stock's 52 week high is $174.62 per share whereas its 52 week low is $118.17. Lincoln Electric's average free cash flow over the last three years has been $309,421,000.0, but they have been decreasing at an average rate of -4.4%. This may prove a challenge to the long term sustainability of the stock's upwards trend.

Date Reported	Cash Flow from Operations ($ MM)	Capital expenditures ($ MM)	Free Cash Flow ($ MM)	YoY Growth (%)
2021-12-31	365	-63	303	3.55
2020-12-31	351	-59	292	-12.41
2019-12-31	403	-70	334	n/a

The above analysis is intended for educational purposes only and was performed on the basis of publicly available data. It is not to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Any buy, sell, or other recommendations mentioned in the article are direct quotations of consensus recommendations from the analysts covering the stock, and do not represent the opinions of Market Inference or its writers. Past performance, accounting data, and inferences about market position and corporate valuation are not reliable indicators of future price movements. Market Inference does not provide financial advice. Investors should conduct their own review and analysis of any company of interest before making an investment decision.