Quality Investor

Astec Industries, Inc.

Rank #250Capital ReturnWatchlistCompare with other stocks

ASTE · Nasdaq · Industrials

Astec Industries, Inc. (ASTE) — Rank #250 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.26) · ROE 5.6% · Piotroski F-Score 5 / 9.

As-of 2026-10-30 · CIK 0000792987 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.

About

Astec Industries, Inc. designs, engineers, manufactures, markets, and services equipment and components used primarily in road building and related construction activities worldwide.

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The company operates in two segments, Infrastructure Solutions and Materials Solutions. The Infrastructure Solutions segment offers asphalt plants, cold central plant recycles systems, and soil remediation plants; concrete batch plants, liquid asphalt terminals, and thermal fluid heaters; asphalt pavers, material transfer vehicles, and milling machines; and industrial automation controls and telematics platforms, as well as engineering and environmental permitting, various plants components, polymer plants, heat recovery units, industrial and asphalt burners and systems, wood chippers and grinders, and blower trucks and trailers,. The Materials Solutions segment offers jaw, cone, heavy-duty, and mining-application crushers; horizontal and vertical shaft impactors; incline, multi-frequency and high frequency, horizontal, and dewatering screens; washing and classifying plants, fines recovery systems, and water clarification systems; radial and telescoping conveyors, pugmills, truck unloaders, hopper feeders ship loaders and unloaders, and bulk receptions feeders; and Rock breaker systems, hydraulic breakers, compactors, and pulverizers. It provides its products to asphalt or concrete producers; highway and heavy equipment contractors; utility contractors; sand and gravel producers; construction, demolition, recycle and crushing contractors; forestry and environmental recycling contractors; mine and quarry operators; port and inland terminal authorities; power stations; and domestic and foreign government agencies.

The company was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Industry
Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery
Sector
Industrials
State
TN
Filer Category
Large accelerated filer
Fiscal Year End
December 31

Company Snapshot

P/E and reverse DCF are the primary valuation lenses at this stage.

Market Cap

—

P/E (annual)

—

P/S (annual)

—

P/B

—

P/OCF (annual)

—

Shareholder Yield

—

Employees

4,468

Industry

Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery

Exchange

Nasdaq

11/12

Flags passed

ASTE fails 1 critical flag

Passes 11 of 12 quality flags

  • FAIL
    Balance sheet deteriorating

    Net cash collapsed with receivables or inventory outpacing revenue

  • PASS
    Gross margin holding
  • PASS
    Dilution within 2%
  • PASS
    FCF not negative from investment
  • PASS
    Disclosure consistent
  • PASS
    Revenue not declining
  • PASS
    Operating margin holding
  • PASS
    Free cash flow intact
  • PASS
    Passes safety gate
  • PASS
    No competitive retreat
  • PASS
    SBC not compressing margin
  • PASS
    No valuation convergence

Strengths Revenue growth accelerating · Operating leverage expanding · Deferred revenue growing · Sequential beat (rev + EPS)

A count of the 12 warning flags that could be evaluated. Unweighted: colour follows the worst flag.

Quality Profile

Profitability

1/1 pass
GP / assets
0.26
Return on equity
5.6%
Gross margin trend
PASS

Safety

1/1 pass
Balance-sheet safety
PASS
Debt / equity
1.05
Current ratio
2.52×
Net cash
-$291.70M

Cash Flow

2/3 pass
Positive FCF
PASS
Cash-backed earnings
WARN
Accruals healthy
PASS
SBC / revenue
0.5%

Growth

2/2 pass
Revenue growth
8.1%
Piotroski F-Score
5 / 9
Share dilution
1.1%

FCF yield, shareholder yield, and buyback activity are the primary reads at this stage.

Profitability

Does it make money well?

No warning flags · GP/assets 60th percentile of 26 SIC 35 peers

Gross profitability (GP / assets)

0.26

Primary signal (Novy-Marx).

60th pctl of 26 SIC 35 peers

Return on equity

5.6%

Gross margin

26.5%

8th pctl of 26 SIC 35 peers

Revenue growth (YoY)

8.1%

Gross margin improving

Margin trend vs prior year.

PASS

Operating Leverage

2022202320242025
Revenue vs COGS
Revenue vs OpEx
Op. Income vs Revenue

Growth

Revenue CAGR (3Y)

3.4%

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

6.6%

Earnings CAGR (3Y)

—

FCF CAGR (3Y)

—

Cash Flow Health

Is the cash real?

No warning flags · FCF 47% below net income

Free cash flow

$20.70M

Operating cash flow minus capex.

Positive free cash flow

PASS

FCF vs net income

-46.6%

(FCF − net income) ÷ |net income|. Positive: cash above earnings. Negative: below.

FCF not below net income

Fails when free cash flow is below net income (yellow flag).

WARN

Accruals healthy

Cash-backed earnings.

PASS

SBC / revenue

0.5%

Stock-based comp intensity.

Balance Sheet Strength

Can it survive a storm?

Warning: Balance sheet deteriorating · net debt $291.70M, F-Score 5/9

Balance-sheet safety

Composite anti-fragile check.

PASS

Debt / equity

1.05

28th pctl of 26 SIC 35 peers (best = lowest)

Current ratio

2.52×

76th pctl of 26 SIC 35 peers

Quick ratio

0.92×

Net cash

-$291.70M

Cash & equivalents minus total debt.

Piotroski F-Score

5 / 9

Fundamental-strength score (0-9).

Valuation

Is the price reasonable?

No warning flags

Dividend safety

Composite score

2.0 / 5

Fair
Payout ratio
30.7%4/5 Strong
FCF coverage
1.74×3/5 Good
Dividend growth streak
0 yr0/5 Weak
Balance-sheet health
D/E 1.05 · IC N/A1/5 Weak

Capital allocation quality

Composite score

0.7 / 5

Weak
Share count trend
1.1%2/5 Fair
Buyback timing
N/AN/A
Dividend growth consistency(non-payer or broken streak)
0 yr0/5 Weak
Net debt trajectory
-18.1%0/5 Weak

Lifecycle Phase History

20202025
Value
Capital Return
Startup

Price History

ASTE-22.5% · -5.0% CAGRSPY+82.9% · +12.8% CAGR