FULLER H B CO (FUL): what the price requires
At today's price, FULLER H B CO (FUL) is priced for +9.0% growth. boothcheck doesn't publish a fair value or a price target; it shows what the price assumes, so you can judge whether that bar is too high.
Generated: 2026-07-14 · Exported: 2026-07-16 · Source: https://boothcheck.com/report/FUL
Headline
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | FUL |
| Company | FULLER H B CO |
| Current price | $55.98/sh |
| Composition | Hygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives 45% / Engineering Adhesives 31% / Building Adhesive Solutions 25% / Corporate Unallocated 0% |
What The Price Requires (Inversion)
The assumption today's price embeds, recovered by inverting the valuation.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Inversion basis | whole-company |
| Implied growth | 9.0% |
| Multiple paid | 23x operating income |
Solve inputs: computed at a 7.6% cost of capital with 4% terminal growth over a 5-year stage; each 1pp of cost of capital moves the implied operating-profit growth ~7.9pp.
Reconcile: at the x-ray's 9.3% required return this reads ~21.2%/yr; the models below use their own rates.
How unusual the bet is: within-range
| Reference | Value |
|---|---|
| vs own history | -0.25σ |
| cohort percentile (of 76 peers) | 68 |
| implied end-window share | 0% |
Valuation X-Ray
The price is justified by relative-multiple; asset-based/earnings-power/growth-DCF land below the price.
How the valuation models price the stock relative to the market price. Price/FV above 1.0 means the market pays more than that lens defends (expensive); at or below 1.0 the lens can defend the price.
| Family | Median price/FV | Models | Reads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asset | 1.55x | 4 | expensive |
| Earnings | 1.54x | 3 | expensive |
| Relative | 0.53x | 4 | justifies |
| Growth | 1.59x | 3 | expensive |
Families that justify the price: Relative Families that call it expensive: Asset, Earnings, Growth
The models below discount at their own flat-beta convention rates (cost of equity 9.3%, WACC 6.0%); the inversion above states its own rate.
Per-Model Detail (n=14)
| Model | Family | FV | Price/FV | Applicable | Methodology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DCF Perpetual Growth | Growth | $9.90 | 5.65x | yes | FCF base $0.1B, growth 0% (input: historical growth), terminal g 0.5%, WACC 6.0%, 5yr projection |
| DCF Exit Multiple | Growth | $47.59 | 1.18x | yes | Exit EV/EBITDA: 22.9x / 24.9x / 26.9x (bear / base = today's held flat / bull), 5yr |
| Relative Valuation | Relative | $29.92 | 1.87x | yes | P/E 14x (static sector reference · 2026-04), scenarios: 11.8x / 14.0x / 16.2x (bear / base = reference held flat / bull), EV/EBITDA 13.07x |
| Simple DDM | Growth | — | — | no | — |
| Two-Stage DDM | Growth | — | — | no | — |
| Simple Excess Return | Asset | $36.46 | 1.54x | yes | BV/sh $37.82, ROE (TTM) 8.9%, ke 9.3% |
| Two-Stage Excess Return | Asset | $35.81 | 1.56x | yes | 5yr excess ROE then converge to ke=9.3% |
| Discounted Future Market Cap | Growth | $35.15 | 1.59x | yes | Rev $3.5B, growth 0% (input: historical growth; tapered), Terminal P/S: 0.7x / 0.9x / 1.0x (bear / base = today's held flat / bull, cap 8x) |
| Peter Lynch Fair Value | Relative | $117.60 | 0.48x | yes | EPS $3.36, growth 35% (input: historical EPS growth), PEG=0.47 (Undervalued) |
| Margin Trajectory | Growth | — | — | no | — |
| Earnings Power Value | Earnings | $30.99 | 1.81x | yes | Normalized EBIT (5y avg op income, one-time charges added back) $0.28B × (1−21%) / WACC 6.0% → EPV (no growth) |
| Residual Income | Asset | $35.70 | 1.57x | yes | BV $37.82 + 5yr PV of (ROE (TTM) 8.9% − Kₑ 9.3%) × BV; BV grows 5.8%/yr |
| Graham Number | Asset | $53.47 | 1.05x | yes | √(22.5 × EPS $3.36 × BVPS $37.82) — Graham's conservative floor |
| EV/EBITDA Relative | Relative | $0.01 | 5598.00x | yes | EBITDA $0.20B × sector EV/EBITDA 8.0x (excluded from median) |
| FCF Yield | Earnings | $0.01 | 5598.00x | yes | FCF $140.8M / Kₑ 9.3% — zero-growth perpetuity (excluded from median) |
| SBC-Adj FCF Yield | Earnings | $0.01 | 5598.00x | yes | SBC-adj FCF $0.12B (FCF $0.14B − SBC $0.02B) capitalized at Kₑ (excluded from median) |
| Ben Graham Formula | Earnings | $108.42 | 0.52x | yes | EPS $3.36 × (8.5 + 2×15.0%) × (4.4 / 5.3%) |
| ROIC-Justified P/B | Asset | — | — | no | — |
| P/Sales Sector | Relative | $95.55 | 0.59x | yes | Revenue $3.51B × sector P/S 1.5x |
| PEG Fair Value | Relative | $126.00 | 0.44x | yes | EPS $3.36 × (PEG 1.5 × growth 25.0% (input: historical EPS growth)) → PE 37.5x |
| Earnings Yield | Earnings | $36.32 | 1.54x | yes | EPS $3.36 / required return 9.3% (Rf 4.3% + ERP 5.0%) |
| Funds From Operations Multiple | Relative | — | — | no | — |
| Clinical Phase NPV | Growth | — | — | no | — |
| Merton | Asset | — | — | no | — |
| V5 Mechanical | — | — | — | no | — |
Solvency
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Net debt | $2.0b |
| Net debt / NOPAT (after-tax) | 11.56x |
| Net debt / operating income (pre-tax) | 9.13x |
| Share count CAGR (dilution) | 0.0% |
| Burning cash | no |
Interest expense is not separately reported in the latest filings, so interest coverage cannot be computed.
Bullet Takeaways
- A mature, cyclical adhesives maker: at about $65 the price embeds roughly 14% operating-income growth and a margin recovery, demanding for a low-single-digit organic grower whose value should rest on steady cash generation, not acceleration.
- The valuation is supported by relative multiples only; earnings-power value near $30, excess-return models in the high $20s to low $30s, and a negative-growth DCF all land well below the price.
- Leverage is the binding constraint: net debt near $2 billion is more than 9x trailing operating income with interest coverage near 1.6x, and the market sold off about 8% on the debt added by the 715 million pound Advanced Medical Solutions deal.
Bull Case
H.B. Fuller is a mature, cyclical industrial, and that stage is the right lens for reading its numbers. This is not a hyper-grower whose value lives in a forecast; it is a global adhesives manufacturer whose value should rest on durable cash generation, steady margin progress, and disciplined capital deployment across a cycle. Judged that way, the recent results are encouraging. In its most recent quarter the company grew revenue close to 6%, with organic revenue up roughly 2.6% and adjusted gross margin expanding about 200 basis points to 34.2%, driven by pricing execution and restructuring savings. Adjusted EPS rose about 19%. For a slow-growth basic-material name, margin expansion of that size is the main lever that compounds value.
The business is diversified across three adhesive segments, Hygiene/Health and Consumable Adhesives, Engineering Adhesives, and Building Adhesive Solutions, which the FY2025 10-K describes as the reorganized operating structure after combining its insulated glass, woodworking and composite businesses (FY2025 10-K, accession 0001437749-26-001767). That breadth across hygiene, packaging, electronics, and construction end markets smooths demand: weakness in one vertical is rarely synchronized with all the others. The Engineering Adhesives segment, tied to electronics and durable goods, carries the highest specification content and the stickiest customer relationships.
Management is reshaping the portfolio toward higher-value, less-cyclical chemistry. The announced acquisition of Advanced Medical Solutions for roughly 715 million pounds pushes Fuller deeper into medical adhesives and wound care, a higher-margin, regulation-protected niche. Raised full-year guidance, adjusted EBITDA of $650 million to $675 million and adjusted EPS of $4.60 to $4.90, signals confidence that pricing discipline and cost savings are holding. For a name where the bet is steady execution rather than acceleration, those are the right signs.
Bear Case
The variable with the most leverage on Fuller's thesis is the cost of its own raw materials, and the price does not appear to give that exposure much weight. Adhesives are formulated from petrochemical derivatives, so the company sits downstream of oil and feedstock prices it does not control. The FY2025 10-K is explicit that the business depends on the cost and availability of raw materials. When input costs spike, Fuller has to chase them with price increases that lag by quarters, compressing the very gross margin the bull case leans on. The recent 200-basis-point margin gain came in a benign cost environment; a feedstock shock would test how much of it is structural versus cyclical.
The second macro lever is the construction and industrial cycle. Building Adhesive Solutions and parts of Engineering Adhesives are geared to housing, renovation, and durable-goods demand, all rate-sensitive. With organic growth only around 2.6%, the underlying volume picture is soft, and a higher-for-longer rate path or a construction downturn would pressure the segments most directly. Trailing operating income of roughly $215 million against net debt near $2 billion already leaves leverage elevated at more than 9x operating income on that metric, and interest coverage near 1.6x is thin.
The leverage concern is why the market reaction to the medical deal mattered. Shares fell about 8% after the Advanced Medical Solutions acquisition was announced, as investors weighed the added debt against an already-stretched balance sheet. The valuation models reinforce the caution: asset-based, earnings-power, and growth-DCF approaches all land well below the price, with earnings-power value near $30 and excess-return models in the high $20s to low $30s. Only the relative-multiple lens supports today's price, which means the stock is leaning on peer comparison rather than on its own cash-flow math.
Valuation
Inverting the $64.73 price (June 27, 2026) puts the embedded bet at roughly 14% operating-income growth, with the price-implied margin around 5.2% against a current operating margin near 6.2%. That is a demanding ask for a low-single-digit organic grower: the math wants margins and growth to firm together over a multi-year horizon.
The model X-ray is split, and that split is the story. Against those, the static frames all say expensive: earnings-power value near $30 capitalizing normalized EBIT at a 6.3% WACC, simple and two-stage excess-return models near $28 to $31 off a $37.20 book value per share with trailing ROE near 7.7%, and the perpetual-growth DCF collapses to near $5 because trailing FCF growth has been negative. The blended landing across applicable methods sits near $33.
The characterization is clean: the price is justified by relative multiples, while asset-based, earnings-power, and growth-DCF approaches say the stock is expensive. The peer set, MOS, MTX, OLN, BCPC, and IOSP, is specialty-chemicals and basic-materials, where mid-cycle multiples can look reasonable on normalized earnings the company has not yet posted. Net debt near 9x trailing operating income and thin interest coverage mean the balance sheet is the binding constraint on how aggressively the multiple can re-rate. At today's price the bet is that pricing discipline, restructuring, and the medical-adhesives mix shift lift margins enough to grow into the multiple.
Catalysts
H.B. Fuller reported Q2 fiscal 2026 results on June 25, with revenue of about $950 million (up 5.8% year over year, organic up 2.6%), adjusted EPS of $1.41 (up roughly 19%), and adjusted gross margin up about 200 basis points to 34.2%. The company raised full-year guidance to adjusted EBITDA of $650 million to $675 million and adjusted EPS of $4.60 to $4.90, with operating cash flow guided to $300 million to $325 million. Despite the beat, the stock fell about 8% as investors focused on the leverage from the simultaneously announced acquisition.
The near-term swing factor is the roughly 715 million pound acquisition of Advanced Medical Solutions, which moves Fuller deeper into medical adhesives and wound care. The integration and the debt it adds are the key items to watch: a successful, deleveraging integration validates the mix shift toward higher-margin chemistry, while slippage would strain an already-levered balance sheet. Beyond the deal, the variables that matter most are raw-material costs and the construction cycle, since the implied growth in the price leans on pricing discipline and restructuring savings holding their recent margin gains.
Sources: H.B. Fuller Q2 2026 results and slides (StockTitan, Investing.com, GuruFocus, June 2026); Alphastreet Q2 2026 deep dive.
Peer Cohorts (Per Segment, With Filing Citations)
Hygiene, Health and Consumable Adhesives (reported)
- RPM (RPM International Inc.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- AVNT (AVIENT CORPORATION)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- IOSP (INNOSPEC INC.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
Engineering Adhesives (reported)
- RPM (RPM International Inc.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- AVNT (AVIENT CORPORATION)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- CE (CELANESE CORPORATION)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- EMN (EASTMAN CHEMICAL CO)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- IOSP (INNOSPEC INC.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- NGVT (INGEVITY CORPORATION)
- (no filing in the citation store)
Building Adhesive Solutions (reported)
- RPM (RPM International Inc.)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- PPG (PPG INDUSTRIES INC)
- (no filing in the citation store)
- AVNT (AVIENT CORPORATION)
- (no filing in the citation store)
Methodology Note
- Priced-in inversion: the valuation is inverted on the current price to recover the operating-income growth, duration, and steady-state margin the price embeds (ROE for financials, FFO growth for REITs).
- Valuation x-ray: the valuation models, grouped into four families (asset, earnings, relative, growth). Each model is expressed as a price/FV ratio (distance from price), not a point fair-value estimate. The spread across families is the disagreement.
- Solvency: net cash/debt, net-debt-to-NOPAT, interest coverage, and share-count CAGR from EDGAR financials (net debt / FFO and fixed-charge coverage for REITs; regulatory-capital framing for financials).
- Peer cohorts: per-segment comparables with deep-linkable SEC filing citations.
Fundamentals sourced from SEC EDGAR filings. Current price from Databento. The priced-in inversion and valuation x-ray are computed by the boothcheck engine; narrative composed by AI from the structured data.