Federal Signal Corporation (FSS)
Industrials · NYQ · US
Fundamentals
Valuation and ratings
Federal Signal Corporation trades at USD119.50, which is 44% below the USD172.09 our discounted cash flow model puts on the business. On that measure alone it screens as undervalued, though a DCF is an argument rather than a measurement, and the market is frequently right about why something is cheap.
Our moat model scores it 58 out of 100, which is a moat, but not a deep one. A moat is a structural reason competitors cannot take the profits away, and it matters more to a long holding period than any single quarter's numbers do.
It changes hands at 26.2 times earnings. Be careful reading that in isolation: for a cyclical business a low P/E arrives at the top of the cycle, when profits are peaking and about to fall, which is exactly when the shares look cheapest and are not.
About Federal Signal Corporation
Federal Signal Corporation designs, manufactures, and supplies a suite of products and integrated solutions for municipal, governmental, industrial, and commercial customers in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Environmental Solutions Group, and Safety and Security Systems Group. The company offers street sweepers, sewer cleaners, industrial vacuum loaders, safe-digging trucks, dump truck bodies, and trailers, as well as waterblasting, road-marking, line-removal, metal extraction support equipment, and multi-purpose maintenance vehicles under the ELGIN, VACTOR, GUZZLER, TRUVAC, WESTECH, JETSTREAM, BLASTERS, MARK RITE LINES, HOG, NEW WAY, TRACKLESS, OX BODIES, CRYSTEEL, J-CRAFT, DURACLASS, RUGBY, TRAVIS, OSW, NTE, WTB, GROUND FORCE, TOWHAUL, BUCKS, AND SWITCH-N-GO brands; and provides refuse and recycling collection vehicles through a dealer network or direct sales to service customers. It is also involved in sale of parts, service and repair, equipment rentals, and training. The company also provides systems for community alerting, emergency vehicles, first responder interoperable communications, and industrial communications; public safety equipment, such as vehicle lightbars and sirens, industrial signaling equipment, public warning systems, and general alarm/public address systems under the Federal Signal, Federal Signal VAMA, and Victor brand names through wholesalers, distributors, independent manufacturer representatives, original equipment manufacturers, and direct sales force, as well as independent foreign distributors. Federal Signal Corporation was founded in 1901 and is based in Downers Grove, Illinois.
FSS passes 6 of our 30 screens today
Each screen prints the exact criteria it used, and the circumstances in which it is wrong.
Smart money ownership
13 of the funds we track reported a position in their latest SEC 13F filing. Largest first:
- Two Sigma, TWO SIGMA INVESTMENTS, LP$29.64M · 0.0% of book
- Israel Englander, MILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT LLC$25.76M · 0.0% of book
- Capital Research Global, Capital Research Global Investors$19.13M · 0.0% of book
- Paul Tudor Jones, TUDOR INVESTMENT CORP ET AL$16.49M · 0.0% of book
- D. E. Shaw, D. E. Shaw & Co., Inc.$13.78M · 0.0% of book
A word of warning on reading these figures: a 13F reports the market value of a holding, so a fund that traded nothing at all still appears to have sold when the price fell. We found 102 companies where the standard reading gives the opposite answer. Only the share count is honest.
Common questions
Is Federal Signal Corporation (FSS) undervalued?
Against our discounted cash flow estimate of USD172.09, FSS at USD119.50 is 44% below fair value. That is one model's answer, not a recommendation, and most of a DCF's output sits in a terminal value nobody can forecast.
Which funds own FSS?
13 of the institutions we track reported a position in FSS in their most recent SEC 13F filing. A 13F is filed up to 45 days after quarter end, so it tells you what a fund held then, not what it holds now.
What is FSS's P/E ratio?
FSS trades at 26.2 times earnings. A low P/E is not automatically cheap: on a cyclical company it is usually a warning that earnings are at a peak.
The full research page for FSS, with financial statements, ownership detail, peer comparison and alerts, is free inside the app.
Data from company filings, exchange quotes and SEC EDGAR 13F disclosures. Quotes are delayed. Metrics we do not have are left out rather than estimated. Educational information, not financial advice.