Crane Company
Orin's own judgment of how firmly the evidence points one way — not the chance the price goes up.
Crane Company is executing well — Q2 2026 revenue surged 25.6% YoY to $724.7M, FY2025 operating margin expanded to 18.4% from 16.7%, and the company has beaten EPS estimates in eight consecutive quarters — but the stock trades at a 35.4x P/E and 22.6x EV/EBITDA, a 7% and 16.5% premium to peer medians respectively, leaving limited room for error.
Total debt quadrupled from $319M at FY2024 to $1.22B at FY2025, and the September 2026 agreement to acquire Trillium Pumps US for approximately $240M at 14.6x extends the leverage build-up. Strong fundamentals support the business, but net insider selling of $9.9M over 24 months and a richly valued equity with rising leverage argue for patience until deleveraging evidence emerges.
What could go wrong
- Leverage escalation. Total debt rose from $319M (FY2024) to $1.22B (FY2025), and the $240M Trillium Pumps acquisition announced September 2026 adds further balance sheet strain before deleveraging is evident.
- Valuation premium. At $204.75, CR trades at 35.4x P/E vs a 33.0x peer median and 4.56x P/S vs 3.43x peer median, pricing in sustained double-digit growth that leaves no margin for a slowdown.
- Persistent insider selling. Insiders net sold $9.9M of shares over 24 months, with recent dispositions by Tullis at $205-225 in August 2026, signaling limited insider conviction at current levels.
- Integration execution. The Trillium Pumps acquisition at 14.6x multiple requires smooth integration to justify the price; integration missteps could pressure margins and debt servicing capacity.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: Q2 2026 results · FY24 and FY25 fundamentals · earnings vs estimates · peer comparison. Orin's read on CR; not advice.
How has the share price moved?
Up 0.9% over twelve months, from $191.24 on 27 Oct 2025 to $192.89 at the Tue 27 Oct 2026 close. Its highest close in that time was $226.44 on 27 Jul 2026; the last close is 14.8% below it.
- Green line: the closing price each trading day.
- Grey line: the average closing price over the last 50 trading days.
- Dashed amber line: the same over the last 200 trading days — a slower, smoother line.
- Bars along the bottom: shares traded each day — green when it closed higher than the day before, rose when lower (the most, 1.9M, on 27 Jan 2026).
- Flags: the company's filings, on the day they were made (a 10-Q is the quarterly report and a 10-K the annual report; an 8-K reports a major event).
On file
All CR filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| BlackRock | $1.1B | 0.0% |
| Capital World Investors | $556.5M | 0.1% |
| FMR | $519.0M | 0.0% |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $494.7M | 0.0% |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $465.2M | 0.0% |
| State Street | $345.1M | 0.0% |
| AQR Capital Management | $291.8M | 0.1% |
| Norges Bank | $231.7M | 0.0% |
| Geode Capital Management | $209.1M | 0.0% |
| Freestone Grove Partners | $150.6M | 1.0% |
78 of the 815 filers we track · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 301 Form 4 filings; open-market trades net −$9.9M. Of the 50 on hand, 1 was an open-market purchase and 3 sales — the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about CR
Orin answers questions about CR from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →How is it priced, against its own past and its sector?
Priced at 32.9× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close); the typical Industrials company on the NYSE is at 33.7×. It has too few years of its own for a usual level.
| Measure | Now | Its usual | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 32.9× | — | 33.7× |
| P/S | 4.04× | — | — |
| EV/EBITDA | 20.9× | — | — |
| P/B | 4.9× | — | — |
- Listed on 29 Mar 2023 — earlier years are not shown.
- So it has no full fiscal year of its own on file yet — no usual level.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
P/S: the company's total market value divided by one year of revenue. Used when there is no profit to measure.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
P/B: the share price divided by the book value per share — what the company owns minus what it owes, as its accounts record it. When book value is tiny, P/B swings wildly and says little.
What do the analysts who cover it publish?
The analysts' average 12-month price target is $245 (from $240 to $253) — 27% above the Tue 27 Oct close price. That is their published opinion, not Orin's.
$245
$240 – $253 · +27% against the last close
- 5 buy or overweight
- 0 hold
- 0 underweight or sell
Price target: the share price an analyst publishes for about 12 months ahead. It is the opinion of the firm that wrote it; the average is across the firms that cover the company.
Overweight / underweight: analysts' rating words: overweight means the firm expects the stock to do better than the others it covers, underweight worse. Their words, not Orin's.
How is it priced next to the companies it is compared to?
Priced at 32.9× its last 12 months of profit; the middle P/E of the 6 companies it is compared to that made a profit is 36.6×.
| Company | Market value | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross margin | Net margin | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRCrane Company | $11B | 32.9× | 20.9× | 30.1% | 12.4% | 16% |
| BAThe Boeing Company | $133B | 17.6× | 14.1× | 9.4% | 8.1% | 127% |
| DCODucommun Incorporated | $2B | 38.9× | 21.0× | 27.8% | 6.1% | 8% |
| HWMHowmet Aerospace Inc. | $77B | 41.1× | 29.2× | 35.2% | 20.5% | 34% |
| ITTITT Inc. | $18B | 40.2× | 19.8× | 35.5% | 8.1% | 9% |
| TDGTransDigm Group Incorporated | $62B | 34.3× | 18.4× | 59.6% | 21.3% | n/m |
| TXTTextron Inc. | $13B | 14.8× | 9.3× | 16.5% | 6.1% | 12% |
- TDG: return on equity is not meaningful (n/m) — book value is below zero.
- The list of companies is the data vendor's choice, so it can include a company a person would not have picked.
Market value: the share price times the number of shares — what the whole company is priced at.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
Gross margin: the share of each $1 of sales left after the direct cost of making what was sold.
Net margin: the share of each $1 of sales kept as profit after every cost. Below zero, the company lost money.
ROE: return on equity: one year of profit as a share of the shareholders' money in the business (its book value).
Is it priced high or low compared with its own past?
Priced at 32.9× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close). It has no full fiscal year on file since its history starts, so there is nothing of its own to compare with.
- Now32.9×
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
Fiscal year (FY): the company's own 12-month accounting year, which need not match the calendar year.
How has its sector been priced?
Industrials companies on the NYSE were priced at a typical 33.7× their yearly profit (Tue 27 Oct close).
- Now33.7×
- Each year is the middle of that calendar year's daily sector P/E; "Now" is the Tue 27 Oct close figure, the same one in the table above.
Sector P/E: the middle P/E of the companies in the same sector on the same stock exchange, as the data vendor works it out each day.
What does a cash-flow model say a share is worth?
A standard cash-flow model puts it at $97 a share — 50% below the $192.04 price it was computed against (27 Oct).
| Model | Value a share | Against the price then |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $97 | 50% below $192.04 |
| Levered | $53 | 72% below $192.04 |
Discounted cash flow: a model's estimate of what the company is worth today, from the cash it is forecast to make in future years. Small changes in the forecast move it a lot, and it says little about a company that loses money.
Standard / levered: two versions of the cash-flow model: the standard one counts the cash before the company pays its lenders, the levered one after.