Orin
AVYNYSE·Business Equipment & Supplies

Avery Dennison Corporation AVY

Market cap $13.0BP/E 18.5× trailingGross margin 29.0%Reports Wed 28 Oct, before the open
$170.51
+1.50 (+0.89%)live 11:25 ET
52-wk $152.42 – $199.54
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Orin's take
0.62conviction · moderate
Refreshed 20 Aug · take v8. A new filing or a print queues the next refresh.

Avery Dennison trades at a reasonable but not deeply discounted valuation versus peers (P/E 20.06x vs 21.25x median, EV/EBITDA 12.80x vs 14.24x median as of FY2025), but the fundamental picture is mixed: FY2025 revenue grew just 1.1% to $8.86B while net income declined 2.4% to $688M and operating income fell to $1.10B from $1.13B. The stock has already rallied to $183.16, above both the 50-day ($165.65) and 200-day ($172.83) moving averages with RSI at 66.9, leaving limited near-term upside, and insiders have been net sellers ($11.2M net dispositions over 24 months) with no cluster buying.

Solid FCF of $712M and a 8.04% FCF margin support the floor, but rising total debt to $3.73B from $3.15B and anemic top-line growth warrant patience rather than new commitment at current levels.

What could go wrong

  • Leverage deterioration. Total debt rose to $3.73B in FY2025 from $3.15B in FY2024 while stockholders' equity declined to $2.24B from $2.32B, increasing balance-sheet risk if rates stay elevated.
  • Stalling earnings momentum. FY2025 net income fell 2.4% YoY and operating income declined to $1.10B from $1.13B despite revenue growth, suggesting margin pressure that could compress the valuation discount further.
  • Technical overextension. RSI at 66.9 with price at $183.16 well above the 50-day MA of $165.65 increases the risk of a pullback after the recent rally.
  • Persistent insider selling. Over the trailing 24 months insiders net sold 35,802 shares for $11.2M, including recent sales by the SVP and Chief Legal Officer in August 2026, with no offsetting cluster buying.

What would change my mind

Q3 2026 revenue acceleration. Quarterly revenue growth exceeds 3% YoY with operating margin expansion above 12.5%, signaling the volume/pricing recovery is taking holdbullish
Debt reduction. Total debt declines below $3.5B in the next reported quarter, indicating deleveraging commitment and reducing balance-sheet riskbullish
Operating margin compression. Operating margin falls below 12% for two consecutive quarters, confirming the FY2025 decline from 12.88% to 12.47% is a trend rather than a one-year dipbearish
Technical breakdown. Price closes below the 200-day moving average of $172.83 on rising volume, invalidating the current uptrendbearish

Where this comes from: FMP FY2025 annual + derived_metrics · FMP FY2025 and FY2024 annual · FMP FY2025 and FY2024 annual · peer_relative. Orin's read on AVY; not advice.

Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-24 · actual filings

Sept 25Nov 25Jan 26Mar 26May 26Jul 26

50-day average 200-day average · volume below

Largest holders · 13F Q2 2026

Money flow
FilerPositionOf fund
Wellington Management Group Llp$939.8M0.2% of fund
Vanguard Capital Management$812.4M0.0% of fund
Vanguard Portfolio Management$789.9M0.0% of fund
State Street$656.7M0.0% of fund
Morgan Stanley$575.7M0.0% of fund
Ameriprise Financial$372.5M0.1% of fund

90 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows

Insiders, last 24 months: 244 Form 4 filings, net −$11.9M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 15 sales— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.

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Where it trades

vs its own 5y · Industrials
MetricNowOwn medianSector
P/E18.5×21.5×44.5×
EV/EBITDA12.0×13.5×—
P/S1.40×1.73×—
P/B5.6×7.3×—

Its P/E sits below all 5 of the last 5 years (−1.09σ from its own mean).

What the price assumes

6.4%

free-cash-flow growth every year for 10 years, discounted at 10%, is what today’s price implies — starting from $0.7B of trailing free cash flow. It is an assumption the market is making, not a forecast Orin is making.

What Wall Street published

18 firms · 2026-09-24
Consensus target

$200

$175 – $225 · +17% against today's price

How they rate it
  • 13 buy or overweight
  • 5 hold
  • 0 underweight or sell

The analysts’ consensus and their own ratings, not Orin’s. A target is a twelve-month opinion published by the firm that wrote it.

Against the companies it is compared to

median P/E 19.9× of 7 peers
CompanyMarket capP/EEV/EBITDAGrossNetROE
AVYAvery Dennison Corporation$13B18.5×12.0×29.0%7.6%31%
ALLEAllegion plc$13B19.9×14.7×44.8%15.4%32%
GGGGraco Inc.$12B23.9×16.4×52.6%23.5%20%
HIIHuntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.$10B15.8×12.0×12.6%5.0%13%
LECOLincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.$15B26.4×17.4×36.0%12.4%37%
MASMasco Corporation$13B15.5×10.9×36.9%11.6%-406%
TXTTextron Inc.$13B14.3×9.1×16.5%6.1%12%
WCCWESCO International, Inc.$18B24.7×14.8×21.4%2.8%14%

The median is of the 7 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. This company trades 7.0% below it. The peer set is the vendor’s, so a company can appear here that a person would not have chosen.

What it has traded at

P/E by fiscal year
FY15 19.0×FY25 20.7×

What its sector has traded at

Industrials
FY14 173.5×FY26 32.6×

Two scales, drawn separately on purpose: a sector median and one company’s multiple are not the same number and putting them on one axis invites a comparison neither series supports.

Discounted cash flow

not recomputed since
ModelFair valueAgainstComputed
Standard DCF$136$158.89 · −15%2026-06-10
Levered DCF$124$158.89 · −22%2026-06-10

The vendor’s intrinsic-value models. Treat them as a low-growth anchor — for a fast grower the market routinely pays well above a DCF. These were computed against the price in the “against” column, not today’s.

Every estimate on one scale

price $170.51
52-week range$152 – $200
Analyst targets$175 – $225
Standard DCF$136 as of 2026-06-10, when it was $158.89
Levered DCF$124 as of 2026-06-10, when it was $158.89
At own 5y-median P/E (22×)$196
At 5y P/E range (20–32×)$178 – $296
At sector P/E (45×)$406

The vertical rule is the current price. Ranges and point estimates are the backend’s, published as they were calculated; an arrow means the estimate sits beyond this scale, and its number is on the right.