# Clearfield (CLFD.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CLFD

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:27:28.318Z. Financial observations: FY1996–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $29.99 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $20.60 per share, central $22.44 per share, high $24.89 per share. Buy at or below the central value $22.44 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:27:28.318Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 7.6% at the stated quote. About 7.6% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 5 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 5

- Years with a net loss: 3

- Operating margin variation: 1.29×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.07×

- FY2018: 0.07×

- FY2019: 0.06×

- FY2020: 0.09×

- FY2021: 0.18×

- FY2022: 0.24×

- FY2023: 0.17×

- FY2024: -0.14×

- FY2025: 0.01×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.02×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- Recent gross margin fell 6.7pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 11.1%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 1.0%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 6.7 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 40.3%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 33.7%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 2.8%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 11.4%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 29.8%

- FY2017: 9.8%

- FY2018: 8.4%

- FY2019: 8.6%

- FY2020: 12.4%

- FY2021: 25.5%

- FY2022: 31.7%

- FY2023: 18.9%

- FY2024: -11.9%

- FY2025: 1.0%

### economics: fail

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- working capital as a share of revenue rose more than 10pp and ends positive

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.95×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $77M

- Net income, five-year total: $82M

- Return on incremental invested capital: -5.9%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 3.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 21.4 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 42.6%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.01×

- FY2022: 1.00×

- FY2023: 0.88×

- FY2024: 1.17×

- FY2025: 0.83×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2025 (8 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 9.8% vs 1.0%

- Per-share earnings: 0.34 to -0.58 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- material buybacks concentrated at lower earnings yields (Spearman rho below threshold)

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 0.3%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 0.5%

- Market cap gain: $288M

- Cumulative retained earnings: $98M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 0.3%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 0.5%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: -$0.92

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.34

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: -$0.58

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.85

- Average buyback yield: 1.5%

- Buyback history: 9 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $13M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $110M

- ROIC, first three-year median: 9.8%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 1.0%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $0.59

- FY2017: $0.28

- FY2018: $0.32

- FY2019: $0.34

- FY2020: $0.53

- FY2021: $1.47

- FY2022: $3.55

- FY2023: $2.17

- FY2024: -$0.85

- FY2025: -$0.58

### accounting: pass

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -12.2%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.44×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 15.6%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.05×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -5.0%

- FY2017: -3.5%

- FY2018: -0.4%

- FY2019: -12.4%

- FY2020: 0.7%

- FY2021: 7.5%

- FY2022: 21.1%

- FY2023: 3.5%

- FY2024: -11.0%

- FY2025: -12.2%

## Holders

- [Andrew Adams](https://gigainvestors.com/MPF): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 77% since Nov 2022 · sales -13.3%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:30.858Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 6% a year for ten years

- 2026-05-12: Clearfield Sees Fiber Demand Stabilizing as Bookings Rise, Data Center Prospects Build ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/clearfield-sees-fiber-demand-stabilizing-151030985.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales -13.3%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796505/000117184325007594/clfd20250930_10k.htm; observed 2025-11-25.

- FY2017: $74M 

- FY2018: $78M 

- FY2019: $85M 

- FY2020: $93M 

- FY2021: $141M 

- FY2022: $271M 

- FY2023: $226M 

- FY2024: $167M 

- FY2025: $150M 

- FY2026: $130M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 33.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796505/000117184325007594/clfd20250930_10k.htm; observed 2025-11-25.

- FY2016: 43.7% 

- FY2017: 40.9% 

- FY2018: 39.9% 

- FY2019: 38.4% 

- FY2020: 40.7% 

- FY2021: 43.5% 

- FY2022: 41.7% 

- FY2023: 35.4% 

- FY2024: 17.3% 

- FY2025: 33.7% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in communication equipment; annual sales are USD 150.1 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796505/000117184325007594/clfd20250930_10k.htm (filed 2025-11-25); FY2025: revenue 150134000; grossProfit 50537000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-05); CLFD.US: Clearfield, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and distributes fiber management, protection, and delivery products in the United States and internationally. The company offers FieldSmart, a series of panels, cabinets, wall boxes, and other enclosures; WaveSmart, an optical component integrated for signal coupling, splitting, termination, multiplexing, demultiplexing, and attenuation for integration within its fiber management platform; and FiberFlex, an outdoor active cabinet for mounting and configuration of electronic equipment. It also provides CraftSmart FiberFirst pedestals, an access terminal that offers cable management and mounting bracket kit that support the deployment of access terminals; YOURx, an access terminal that provides flexibility with cable mid-span and internal splicing options; FieldShield, a fiber pathway and protection method for reducing the cost of broadband deployment; Fiber Assemblies used for industry-standard or customer-specified configurations; and ClearPass Connector Cleaning Dust Cap, which simplifies fiber connector cleaning while enhancing network performance. In addition, the company offers fiber to the premise, fiber to the business, DC interconnect/campus network, meet-me room, main distribution area, and white space. Further, it provides metro core, backhaul, indoor/outdoor DAS, small cells, and FTT-cell site. The company serves various service providers, including national carriers, community broadband, multiple system operators, legacy build-to-print copper and fiber assemblies, large enterprises, and original equipment manufacturer markets. It sells its products through sales force and authorized distributors. The company was formerly known as APA Enterprises, Inc. and changed its name to Clearfield, Inc. in January 2008. Clearfield, Inc. was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 17.3% to 35.4% during 2023–25; it earns 11.1% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 35.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 17.3%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796505/000117184325007594/clfd20250930_10k.htm (filed 2025-11-25); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 33.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.29820982269641416],[2017,0.09762561857121123],[2018,0.08398428632407211],[2019,0.08574297514934856],[2020,0.12412422352922606],[2021,0.2553630901815561],[2022,0.3171887115580721],[2023,0.18944270745037256],[2024,-0.11937389380530973],[2025,0.009997844931025113]]; median 0.11087492105021865. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 2 of 10 years; bought back USD 16.7 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2016: growth capex 178064; upkeep 1449202; owner earnings 8013062. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.02222171749076695.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 2021551; owner earnings 3448382. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 1189853; owner earnings 5132440. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2019: growth capex 333237; upkeep 2178409; owner earnings 4566156. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.07297976678851971.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 1806198; owner earnings 7908556. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 2046004; owner earnings 20582799. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2022: growth capex 5735000; upkeep 3413000; owner earnings 49362000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.11618248855394839.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 8384000; owner earnings 28744000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); Dividend observations: [[2016,0],[2017,0],[2018,0],[2019,0],[2020,0],[2021,0],[2022,16700000],[2023,1565000],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796505/000117184325007594/clfd20250930_10k.htm (filed 2025-11-25); FY2025: cash repurchases 16652999 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 18.2% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-05); CLFD.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 18.172 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-05.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 6% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-25); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.07241815360543213. Price 29.99; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share 0.10736242747760434 → FY2025 -0.47692950042707066. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $16.75 per share

- 2016-11: $19.20 per share

- 2016-12: $20.70 per share

- 2017-01: $17.20 per share

- 2017-02: $16.35 per share

- 2017-03: $16.45 per share

- 2017-04: $14.15 per share

- 2017-05: $13.05 per share

- 2017-06: $13.20 per share

- 2017-07: $11.50 per share

- 2017-08: $12.20 per share

- 2017-09: $13.60 per share

- 2017-10: $13.70 per share

- 2017-11: $14.60 per share

- 2017-12: $12.25 per share

- 2018-01: $12.95 per share

- 2018-02: $13.50 per share

- 2018-03: $12.90 per share

- 2018-04: $12.20 per share

- 2018-05: $10.80 per share

- 2018-06: $11.05 per share

- 2018-07: $12.95 per share

- 2018-08: $13.65 per share

- 2018-09: $13.45 per share

- 2018-10: $12.02 per share

- 2018-11: $12.34 per share

- 2018-12: $9.92 per share

- 2019-01: $11.77 per share

- 2019-02: $14.52 per share

- 2019-03: $14.70 per share

- 2019-04: $14.74 per share

- 2019-05: $13.29 per share

- 2019-06: $13.25 per share

- 2019-07: $13.25 per share

- 2019-08: $10.69 per share

- 2019-09: $11.85 per share

- 2019-10: $12.33 per share

- 2019-11: $13.57 per share

- 2019-12: $13.94 per share

- 2020-01: $12.72 per share

- 2020-02: $10.72 per share

- 2020-03: $11.85 per share

- 2020-04: $13.03 per share

- 2020-05: $13.83 per share

- 2020-06: $13.96 per share

- 2020-07: $18.64 per share

- 2020-08: $17.60 per share

- 2020-09: $20.17 per share

- 2020-10: $20.93 per share

- 2020-11: $23.78 per share

- 2020-12: $24.72 per share

- 2021-01: $31.32 per share

- 2021-02: $32.41 per share

- 2021-03: $30.13 per share

- 2021-04: $34.35 per share

- 2021-05: $37.82 per share

- 2021-06: $37.45 per share

- 2021-07: $43.52 per share

- 2021-08: $45.31 per share

- 2021-09: $44.15 per share

- 2021-10: $56.49 per share

- 2021-11: $64.74 per share

- 2021-12: $84.42 per share

- 2022-01: $64.47 per share

- 2022-02: $64.11 per share

- 2022-03: $65.22 per share

- 2022-04: $58.23 per share

- 2022-05: $61.80 per share

- 2022-06: $61.95 per share

- 2022-07: $98.55 per share

- 2022-08: $116.11 per share

- 2022-09: $104.64 per share

- 2022-10: $121.47 per share

- 2022-11: $131.62 per share

- 2022-12: $94.14 per share

- 2023-01: $71.46 per share

- 2023-02: $62.69 per share

- 2023-03: $46.58 per share

- 2023-04: $43.68 per share

- 2023-05: $39.11 per share

- 2023-06: $47.35 per share

- 2023-07: $46.74 per share

- 2023-08: $35.15 per share

- 2023-09: $28.66 per share

- 2023-10: $24.02 per share

- 2023-11: $25.44 per share

- 2023-12: $29.08 per share

- 2024-01: $25.19 per share

- 2024-02: $30.17 per share

- 2024-03: $30.84 per share

- 2024-04: $30.12 per share

- 2024-05: $38.26 per share

- 2024-06: $38.56 per share

- 2024-07: $43.40 per share

- 2024-08: $37.30 per share

- 2024-09: $38.96 per share

- 2024-10: $35.93 per share

- 2024-11: $30.60 per share

- 2024-12: $31.00 per share

- 2025-01: $36.49 per share

- 2025-02: $32.41 per share

- 2025-03: $29.72 per share

- 2025-04: $28.67 per share

- 2025-05: $37.11 per share

- 2025-06: $43.41 per share

- 2025-07: $43.81 per share

- 2025-08: $32.62 per share

- 2025-09: $34.38 per share

- 2025-10: $35.30 per share

- 2025-11: $29.36 per share

- 2025-12: $29.15 per share

- 2026-01: $29.77 per share

- 2026-02: $31.44 per share

- 2026-03: $26.47 per share

- 2026-04: $28.89 per share

- 2026-05: $47.22 per share

- 2026-06: $39.79 per share

- 2026-07: $30.26 per share

- 2026-08: $29.01 per share

- 2026-09: $31.14 per share

- 2026-10: $29.99 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $8.99 per share, central $11.84 per share, high $13.50 per share

- FY2017: low $7.83 per share, central $10.47 per share, high $12.01 per share

- FY2018: low $6.28 per share, central $8.34 per share, high $9.58 per share

- FY2019: low $5.35 per share, central $5.87 per share, high $6.55 per share

- FY2020: low $7.97 per share, central $10.60 per share, high $12.13 per share

- FY2021: low $10.68 per share, central $14.61 per share, high $16.90 per share

- FY2022: low $23.73 per share, central $33.37 per share, high $38.98 per share

- FY2023: low $36.93 per share, central $48.08 per share, high $54.58 per share

- FY2024: low $24.53 per share, central $26.72 per share, high $29.64 per share

- FY2025: low $22.30 per share, central $24.36 per share, high $27.10 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/796505/000117184325007594/clfd20250930_10k.htm); period 2025-09-30, filed 2025-11-25.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.