PLPCPREFORMED LINE PRODUCTS CO

Water, Sewer, Pipeline, Comm & Power Line Construction

Revenue: $669M; 13% YoY
Operating margin: 8.2%; 3.6% YoY
EBITDA: $78M; 9.2% YoY
Market cap: $1.4B
Employees: 3,734; $179K revenue each
Net debt / EBITDA: 0.1×; $9M net debt
AI in 10-K: 0.6; mentions per 10K words

Takeover score 2 of 13

Fixable underperformance 0 of 7

TSR below peersNo
—
3+ of last 5 years
High CEO pay despite TSRNo
—
Median CEO pay ≥ $15M while TSR trails
Earnings not backed by cashNo
208% of net income
Cash flow under 80% of net income
Dilutive SBCNo
1% of revenue
Over 10% of revenue
Payouts exceed cash flowNo
7% of cash flow
Buybacks + dividends over cash flow
Goodwill-heavyNo
5% of assets
Over 40% of assets
Shareholder dissentNo
100% lowest support
Any vote under 80% support

Buyer economics 2 of 4

Low revenue per employeeYes
$179K · 0th pct
Bottom quartile of its SIC industry
Quiet on AINo
0.6 per 10K words · 25th pct
Bottom quartile of AI mentions in 10-Ks
Net cashNo
0.1× EBITDA net debt
More cash than debt, positive EBITDA
Buyout-sizedYes
$1.4B market cap
Market cap $500M–$5B

Catalysts 0 of 2

Active 13DNo
0 filings
Active-intent 13D in 18 months
Net insider sellingNo
−$3M net
Net sales over $10M in 12 months

Financials

Metric	FY2021	FY2022	FY2023	FY2024	FY2025	YoY	Trend
Revenue	$517M	$637M	$670M	$594M	$669M	13%
Operating income	$48M	$69M	$84M	$51M	$55M	8.6%
Net income	$36M	$54M	$63M	$37M	$35M	4.9%
Operating cash flow	$34M	$26M	$108M	$67M	$73M	8.9%
Capex	$18M	$41M	$35M	$15M	$40M	174%
Stock-based comp	$4M	$5M	$5M	$3M	$5M	45%
Buybacks	$177K	$158K	$728K	$226K	$1M	364%
Dividends	$4M	$4M	$4M	$4M	$4M	1.0%

Deal filings

None.

13D filers

Filed	Filer	Form	Stake	Intent
Aug 30, 2024	RUHLMAN ROBERT G	SC 13D/A	29.5%	Passive
Aug 30, 2024	Third Restatement of Barbara P. Ruhlman Trust Agreement, dated November 20, 2008	SC 13D/A	0.0%	Passive
Aug 30, 2024	RUHLMAN RANDALL M	SC 13D/A	23.4%	Passive
Sep 16, 2022	RUHLMAN RANDALL M	SC 13D/A	25.3%	Passive
Sep 16, 2022	RUHLMAN ROBERT G	SC 13D/A	31.7%	Passive
Sep 16, 2022	Third Restatement of Barbara P. Ruhlman Trust Agreement, dated November 20, 2008	SC 13D/A	28.6%	Passive
Aug 2, 2022	Barbara P Ruhlman Revocable Trust dated 9/21/16	SC 13D/A	28.6%	Passive
Jan 14, 2022	Barbara P Ruhlman Revocable Trust dated 9/21/16	SC 13D/A	28.9%	Passive

Insider trading

Open-market buys, 12 mo: $0 · 0
Open-market sells, 12 mo: $3M · 3
Net: −$3M

Pay vs performance

No pay-versus-performance disclosure yet.