Acme United Corporation
Rank #144ValueACU · NYSE · Consumer Defensive
Acme United Corporation (ACU) — Rank #144 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.39) · ROE 8.4% · Piotroski F-Score 7 / 9.
As-of 2026-09-15 · CIK 0000002098 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.
About
Acme United Corporation supplies cutting, measuring, first aid, and sharpening products to the school, home, office, hardware, sporting goods, and industrial markets in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally.
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The company offers scissors, shears, knives, rulers, pencil sharpeners, paper trimmers, safety cutters, lettering products, glue guns, and other craft products under the Westcott brand name; and cutting tools under the Clauss brand. It also provides sharpening knives, scissors, chisels, skis, skates, and other edges under the DMT brand. In addition, the company offers first aid kits and safety solutions under the First Aid Only brand; portable eyewash solution and over-the-counter medication, including active ingredients aspirin, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen under the PhysiciansCare brand; bodily fluid and spill clean-up solution under the Spill Magic brand; various first aid kit, refill, and safety supplies, including CPR kits, burn kits, and automotive and emergency first aid kits under the First Aid Central; first aid kits for the promotional products industry under Safety Made brand; alcohol prep pads, alcohol wipes, benzalkonium chloride wipes, various antiseptic wipes under the Med-Nap brand, and Pac-Kit, as well as My Medic brands. It sells its products directly and through its independent manufacturer representatives to wholesale, contract, and retail stationery distributors; office supply superstores, mass market retailers, industrial and medical distributors, school supply distributors, drug store retailers, sporting goods stores, hardware chains, and wholesale florists, as well as through its websites. The company was formerly known as Acme Shear Company and changed its name to Acme United Corporation in 1971.
Acme United Corporation was founded in 1867 and is based in Shelton, Connecticut.
- Industry
- Household & Personal Products
- Sector
- Consumer Defensive
- State
- CT
- Filer Category
- Accelerated filerSmaller reporting company
- Fiscal Year End
- December 31
- Website
- acmeunited.com
Price History
Company Snapshot
P/E and dividend yield are the primary valuation lenses for mature businesses.
Market Cap
$233.23M
P/E (annual)
24.4
P/S (annual)
1.2
P/B
1.9
P/OCF (annual)
12.8
Shareholder Yield
1.3%
Employees
649
Industry
Household & Personal Products
Exchange
NYSE
Signal Flags
Quality Profile
Profitability
1/1 passSafety
1/1 passCash Flow
2/3 passGrowth
2/2 passTerry Smith quality gate
Passes 0/5 Terry Smith thresholds1 of 5 threshold not computable from filed data.
What Growth Is Priced In
Implied revenue growth (10Y)
14.4%
The annual FCF growth rate today's price requires over a 10-year horizon (discount rate 10%, terminal growth 2.5%).
Buyback tailwind: -0.3% — per-share value needs a total required return of 14.2% once share-count change is priced in.
vs. own 6-year median revenue growth: 4.0%
priced above its own historyCost-of-equity sensitivity (implied growth at different discount rates)
r = 8%
9.7%
r = 10% (base)
14.4%
r = 12%
18.5%
Net debt / market cap: 7.1%
Valuation History
Current multiple vs historical range at each filing date. Band spans 25th-75th percentile.
P / E
Price / diluted EPS
P / S
Price / revenue per share
P / B
Price / book value per share
P / GP
Price / gross profit per share
P / FCF
Price / free cash flow per share
Disclosure regression check
A previously-disclosed line item is no longer reported. Worth checking the filing for why.
Dividend yield and payout ratio are the primary reads at this stage (trailing P/E — see valuation above).
Profitability
Gross profitability (GP / assets)
0.39
Primary signal (Novy-Marx).
3rd of 15 SIC 34 peers
Return on equity
8.4%
Gross margin
39.4%
6th of 15 SIC 34 peers
Revenue growth (YoY)
1.1%
Gross margin improving
Margin trend vs prior year.
Operating Leverage
| 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue vs COGS | ||||
| Revenue vs OpEx | ||||
| Op. Income vs Revenue |
Growth
Revenue CAGR (3Y)
0.4%
Revenue CAGR (5Y)
3.7%
Earnings CAGR (3Y)
49.7%
FCF CAGR (3Y)
—
Anti-fragile safety
Balance-sheet safety
Composite anti-fragile check.
Debt / equity
0.65
6th of 15 SIC 34 peers (best = lowest)
Current ratio
3.23×
4th of 15 SIC 34 peers
Quick ratio
1.26×
Net cash
-$17.60M
Cash & equivalents minus total debt.
Cash-flow health
Free cash flow
$7.58M
Operating cash flow minus capex.
Positive free cash flow
FCF / net income
-0.26
Cash-backing of earnings.
FCF/NI divergence
Unfavorable divergence (yellow flag).
Accruals healthy
Cash-backed earnings.
SBC / revenue
1.0%
Stock-based comp intensity.
Dividend safety
Composite score
3.8 / 5
Piotroski F-Score
F-Score
7 / 9
Fundamental-strength score (0-9).