Pentair plc PNR
Pentair screens as deeply cheap at 16.5x P/E versus a peer median of 28.0x, with FY2025 fundamentals that remain genuinely strong — $746M free cash flow, 40.5% gross margins, EPS of $3.96, and total debt reduced to $1.77B from $2.4B in 2022. However, multiple securities fraud class actions filed in August 2026 allege material misstatements about the company's ability to withstand channel destocking, the CFO role is filled on an interim basis, and the stock at $64.10 sits 28% below its 200-day moving average of $88.85 — a combination of legal overhang and operational uncertainty that offsets the compelling valuation.
Until there is clarity on whether destocking is transitory and whether the fraud allegations have merit, the risk/reward is too binary to commit capital.
What could go wrong
- Securities fraud litigation. Multiple class action lawsuits filed August 2026 covering a class period of March 11, 2025 through July 14, 2026, alleging material misstatements concerning the company's ability to withstand significant destocking. Lead plaintiff deadline October 2, 2026.
- Destocking severity and duration. The prior verdict noted a severe 17% core sales decline driven by pool channel destocking in Q2 2026; if destocking is structural rather than transitory, the earnings power supporting the cheap multiple erodes.
- Leadership instability. The CFO role is held on an interim basis by Robert Fishman as of July 14, 2026, adding execution risk during a period of operational stress and a pending acquisition integration.
- Technical breakdown. Stock at $64.10 trades well below both the 50-day ($70.30) and 200-day ($88.85) moving averages with RSI at 39.3, indicating persistent selling pressure that could deepen on negative legal developments.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: peer_relative composite as of 2026-08-17 · FMP fundamentals FY2025 (period ended 2025-12-31) · FMP fundamentals FY2022 vs FY2025 · news articles published 2026-08-14 to 2026-08-16. Orin's read on PNR; not advice.
Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-24 · actual filings
50-day average 200-day average · volume below
On file
All PNR filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Capital Management | $810.1M | 0.0% of fund |
| State Street | $701.7M | 0.0% of fund |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $575.2M | 0.0% of fund |
| Fmr | $518.0M | 0.0% of fund |
| Price T Rowe Associates /Md/ | $491.3M | 0.0% of fund |
| Invesco | $384.5M | 0.0% of fund |
83 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 165 Form 4 filings, net −$10.4M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 1 a sale— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about PNR
Orin answers questions about PNR 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 →Where it trades
| Metric | Now | Own median | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 13.2× | 21.9× | 44.5× |
| EV/EBITDA | 10.9× | 18.1× | — |
| P/S | 2.11× | 3.22× | — |
| P/B | 2.3× | 4.4× | — |
Its P/E sits below all 5 of the last 5 years (−2.03σ from its own mean).
-0.1%
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
$81
$64 – $94 · +51% against today's price
- 15 buy or overweight
- 22 hold
- 6 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
| Company | Market cap | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross | Net | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PNRPentair plc | $8B | 13.2× | 10.9× | 41.3% | 16.2% | 17% |
| ACMAecom | $8B | 26.5× | — | 5.7% | 1.9% | 13% |
| CHRWC.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. | $17B | 27.5× | 19.1× | 10.1% | 3.7% | 36% |
| DCIDonaldson Company, Inc. | $10B | 22.1× | 17.9× | 34.6% | 11.7% | 28% |
| GGGGraco Inc. | $12B | 23.9× | 16.4× | 52.6% | 23.5% | 20% |
| IEXIDEX Corporation | $17B | 32.8× | 20.0× | 44.7% | 14.5% | 13% |
| ITTITT Inc. | $19B | 41.8× | 25.0× | 34.6% | 8.9% | 10% |
| LIILennox International Inc. | $13B | 16.6× | 12.9× | 33.1% | 14.6% | 65% |
| NDSNNordson Corporation | $18B | 32.6× | 20.8× | 55.3% | 18.6% | 18% |
| SNASnap-on Incorporated | $19B | 18.5× | 12.4× | 51.2% | 20.4% | 17% |
The median is of the 9 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. This company trades 50.1% 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
What its sector has traded at
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.
Every estimate on one scale
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.