Powell Industries Gains From Business Strength Amid Headwinds

Powell Industries, Inc. POWL is witnessing solid momentum across its electric utility and commercial & other industrial markets. The company’s increased participation across the electrical power value chain has enabled it to generate solid bookings from the electric utility and commercial & other industrial markets. In the third quarter of fiscal 2025 (ended June 2025), revenues from the electric utility sector surged 31% year over year, while those from the commercial & other industrial sector increased 18%.

This has led to a strong backlog level, which was $1.4 billion (up 7% sequentially) while exiting the fiscal third quarter. New orders totaled $362 million in the fiscal third quarter compared with $356 million in the year-ago quarter. Importantly, the new orders consisted of a solid volume of small, medium and large-sized awards that reflected the company’s core competencies and well-balanced portfolio across markets.

Also, in August 2025, Powell Industries announced an investment of $12.4 million to expand its production capacity at the Jacintoport manufacturing facility in Houston. This announcement brings the cumulative investment across POWL’s three Houston manufacturing facilities to approximately $40 million over the past several years, which would support its organic growth plans.

POWL’s commitment to rewarding its shareholders through dividends is encouraging. The company used $9.6 million and $12.7 million to distribute dividends in the first nine months of fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2024, respectively. In February 2025, it hiked its quarterly dividend by approximately 1%. The company’s strong liquidity position with no debt also supports its shareholder-friendly activities.

POWL’s Price Performance

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In the past year, the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company has gained 26.7% compared with the electronics manufacturing industry’s 13.6% growth.

However, the company has been dealing with the adverse impacts of high operating costs and expenses. In the first nine months of fiscal 2025, Powell Industries’ cost of sales increased 5.7% year over year, while its selling, general and administrative expenses jumped 8.1%. Also, in fiscal 2024, its cost of sales climbed 34% year over year, and selling, general and administrative expenses increased 7.7%. It’s worth noting that material costs represented 47% of the company’s revenues in fiscal 2024.

The company utilizes several raw materials, including steel, copper, aluminum and various engineered electrical components, in its businesses. Some of them are subject to the tariff-related concerns, which might inflate costs and delay the delivery of products to its customers.

Key Picks

Some better-ranked companies from the same space are discussed below.

A. O. Smith Corporation AOS currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

AOS delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 2.9%. In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for AOS’ 2025 earnings has increased 0.3%.

AZZ Inc. AZZ presently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. AZZ has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 8.1%, on average. The consensus estimate for AZZ’s fiscal 2026 (ending February 2026) earnings has inched up 0.2% in the past 60 days.

Parker-Hannifin Corporation PH presently carries a Zacks Rank of 2. It delivered a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 4.5%. In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for PH’s fiscal 2026 (ending June 2026) earnings has risen 0.3%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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