Is the business good?
How good a business is MSM?
MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. earns 14% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
14%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 5.2 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 8.5%
Operating margin · Industrial Distribution median 8.5% · 12 months to Q3 2026
- Cash conversion
- 0.95×
Cash conversion · 1.33× a year ago · some of the reported profit has not turned into cash yet
- Share count, year on year
- +0.40%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 11% |
| FY2021 | 9.3% |
| FY2022 | 13% |
| FY2023 | 12% |
| FY2024 | 10% |
| FY2025 | 8.0% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 41%
- Operating margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 8.5%
- Net margin12 months to Q3 2026
- 5.9%
- Free cash flow margin
- 5.6%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $3.91B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $220M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $231M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 14%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Industrial Distribution
Ranks #15 of 17 by Smart Score