Value Investor
Start free

Donaldson

DCI on NYSE. Donaldson sells filtration products to industries and equipment makers. Market value $10.3bn.

Watch this stockFree. We tell you when something changes.

Price checks use the past 12 months to July 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to July 2026.

Should I look at this?

Worth a closer look

Why it could be worth it

What to watch out for

Nothing stood out in the numbers we check.

Read what could go wrong

This is not advice. Check the numbers below.

Compare with another stock

Cash yield
past 12 months to July 2026
4.1%fair

For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $4.08 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.

Price to profit
past 12 months to July 2026
19.1×full

You pay 19.1 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.

Return on capital
five annual reports to July 2026
21.2%five-year median

Each dollar kept in the business earns 21 cents a year. Above 10 is good.

Quality score: 98 of 100. Price score: 66 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.

$90.11 a share, 13% above its 1-year low

Over the past year the price has ranged from $79.42 to $112.84.

Dividend: 1.4% a year

Paid every year for at least 5 years

Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).

Five years of cash, in billions

0.2
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.4
20222023202420252026
Revenue
$3.3bn$3.4bn$3.6bn$3.7bn$3.9bn
Operating margin
13.4%14.0%15.2%13.4%15.4%
Debt to equity
0.570.500.360.440.73
Shares outstanding
0.12bn0.12bn0.12bn0.12bn0.12bn

Health checks

  • Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
  • Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
  • Financial strength (Piotroski)5 of 8 checks we could run
  • Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
  • Debt0.73× equity
  • Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 6.4% a year
  • Buying back its own sharesYes, 4% fewer since 2022

The quarter to July 2026

How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.

  • Sales: $1.1 billion last quarter, up 8% on a year ago.
  • Profit: $129 million, up 13% on a year ago.
  • It keeps 15 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, up from 13 cents a year earlier.
  • Spare cash over the past 12 months: $426 million, up from $340 million.
  • Debt is $1 billion more than cash, up from $457 million a year ago.
  • Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
Sales by quarter
Sales by quarter
Quarter toAmount
October 2024$900m
January 2025$870m
April 2025$940m
July 2025$981m
October 2025$935m
January 2026$896m
April 2026$995m
July 2026$1.1bn
Profit by quarter
Profit by quarter
Quarter toAmount
October 2024$99m
January 2025$96m
April 2025$58m
July 2025$114m
October 2025$114m
January 2026$93m
April 2026$118m
July 2026$129m

From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.

Dates

Next results (estimated)
n/a
Last annual report (10-K)
25 September 2026
Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
1 September 2026

Who owns it

10 long-term investors we follow own it, up from 9 last quarter. 629 funds in all.

Jun '25
Dec '25
Jun '26
Largest holders overall

From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.

Big holders and activists

2 investors own more than 5%.

From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.

What insiders did

No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 5 sold $9m.

  • Carpenter Tod E.
    Chairman, President and CEO, Director
    Sold
    Date
    4 September 2026
    Shares
    31,968
    Price
    $91.10
    Value
    $3m
  • Carpenter Tod E.
    Chairman, President and CEO, Director
    Sold
    Date
    31 August 2026
    Shares
    3,032
    Price
    $91.00
    Value
    $275,912
  • Owens James
    Director
    Sold
    Date
    14 April 2026
    Shares
    13,753
    Price
    $89.21
    Value
    $1m
  • Owens James
    Director
    Sold
    Date
    13 April 2026
    Shares
    5,921
    Price
    $89.02
    Value
    $527,087
  • Owens James
    Director
    Sold
    Date
    10 April 2026
    Shares
    126
    Price
    $88.82
    Value
    $11,191
  • Briseno Guillermo
    President
    Sold
    Date
    26 March 2026
    Shares
    20,600
    Price
    $84.97
    Value
    $2m
  • Pogalz Bradley J.
    Chief Financial Officer
    Sold
    Date
    9 December 2025
    Shares
    566
    Price
    $91.57
    Value
    $51,829
  • Rajendra Ajita G
    Director
    Sold
    Date
    5 December 2025
    Shares
    19,800
    Price
    $92.04
    Value
    $2m

From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.

Warning signs in its filings

Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.

None of the warning signs we check for were found.

We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.

We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 25 Sep 2026, and no later 8-Ks.

A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.

What could go wrong

Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.

Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.

What changed in the risks this year

Companies must list what could hurt them each year. These are the parts that changed since last year’s report.

  • Facet Filtration Acquisition - we could be subject to new risks, known and unknown, relating to the Facet acquisition.

    Could happen
    We may experience risks, losses and damages associated with the Facet acquisition. The Facet acquisition integration activities may involve complex operational, financial and cultural alignment efforts. If management is unable to effectively balance integration activities with ongoing business needs, we may experience increased operating costs, reduced financial performance or disruptions to our day‑to‑day operations. Any of these outcomes could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
    Read more

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) - the development, deployment, and use of AI technologies may not achieve the intended outcomes.

    Could happen
    • Operational and Technical Risks: AI technologies are complex and rapidly evolving and may not perform as intended. Deficiencies in AI algorithms, training methodologies, datasets, or system implementation could result in inaccurate outputs, operational disruptions, data loss or other adverse outcomes that impair the effectiveness of utilizing AI in our operations.
    Read more

  • Facet Filtration Acquisition - we could be subject to new risks, known and unknown, relating to the Facet acquisition.

    Could happen
    We acquired $587.4 million of goodwill and $225.6 million in intangible assets as part of the Facet acquisition. If Facet fails to meet performance expectations, we could face future impairment charges that may have a material adverse effect on our reported results of operations and financial position.
    Read more

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) - the development, deployment, and use of AI technologies may not achieve the intended outcomes.

    Could happen
    Our development and use of AI technologies may not effectively address all associated risks, and any failure to do so could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) - the development, deployment, and use of AI technologies may not achieve the intended outcomes.

    Could happen
    • Legal and Regulatory Risks: The legal and regulatory framework governing AI continues to evolve and varies across jurisdictions. Compliance with existing and emerging requirements may increase costs, restrict our use of AI technologies and expose us to legal, regulatory and reputational risks.
    Read more

Read it in the annual report

The deep dive

Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.

  • What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
  • Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
  • The three things that would make this a mistake
  • Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Create a free account to run it

Your first deep dive is free.

What a finished deep dive looks like

Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.