FSSFederal Signal Corporation
Is the business good?
A genuinely good business: earnings fully cash-backed (1.2×) and margins widening.
Mixed fundamental signals. Nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year health from the filings.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash. Conversion is improving vs a year ago.
Positive operating leverage, operating profit is growing faster than sales, so margins widen as the business scales.
A balanced mix of margins, efficiency, and leverage. ROE 18% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is FSS?
Federal Signal Corporation earns 16% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 7.4 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 16%
Operating margin · Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery median 5.1% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.23×
Cash conversion · 1.08× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- +0.33%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 12% |
| FY2021 | 11% |
| FY2022 | 11% |
| FY2023 | 13% |
| FY2024 | 15% |
| FY2025 | 16% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 29%
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 16%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 12%
- Free cash flow margin
- 14%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $2.45B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $339M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $285M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 16%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Farm & Heavy Construction Machinery
Ranks #7 of 14 by RyuScore