Generac Holdings Inc (GNRC) stock analysis
Generac Holdings Inc (GNRC) clears 3 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 1 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 1 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $188.02 it trades 71.9% above this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of -71.9%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +0.9% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Generac Holdings do?
Generac makes backup generators for homes and businesses, plus solar and battery storage products and portable power equipment.
Brands and businesses it owns
- Generac
- Guardian
- PWRcell
What stands out about Generac Holdings?
- The share price implies 21.9% yearly growth. At $188.02, GNRC's free cash flow of $6.40 per share would have to grow 21.9% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for more growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 2 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($11.1B) and Trailing P/E < 25 (43.12); the other 3 pass and 3 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Well below its 52-week high. At $188.02, GNRC trades 36.4% below its high of $295.54, and 37.9% above its low of $136.37. See the range.
- Weakest against peers: revenue growth. At 0.6% (peer median 13.0%) it ranks 19th of 19 among electrical equipment stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Priced at 43.1 times earnings. Price-to-book is 3.9 and return on equity 9.5%. See the value diligence check.
How has Generac Holdings' share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Generac Holdings undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) -71.9%
- P/E vs. its own history 43.1x · near the expensive end Real range: 16.3x–50.5x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 4.11/5 28 analysts this month: 10 strong buy, 11 buy, 7 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub).
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 4.52 · Safe zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean Beneish M-score −2.81 · accruals −5.2% of assets · 246% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 1.2% of revenue · share count −2.3% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +0.9% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 0.0% + buybacks 1.3% − stock comp 0.4%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 13%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $17.44 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry · but only 11% return on capital Operating profit $270M → $404M, capital needed $1.4B → $3.8B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 11% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) n/a (no PEG reported)
- Compounder lenses (4) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light, price (n/a) Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit grew 1.5×, under 2×); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): cannot be measured (no PEG reported). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 1 flag
- Standing vs. sector peers 1 of 6 measures above the median Compared with the 18 other electrical equipment stocks this site tracks: 0 in the top third, 4 in the bottom third.
How does Generac Holdings compare with its peers?
1 of 6 measure sits above the median of the 18 other electrical equipment stocks tracked here, 4 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 34.5× 43.1× ✕14th of 19
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 3.4% 3.4% –10th of 19
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 20% 10% ✕16th of 19
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 13.4% 5.8% ✕16th of 19
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 13.0% 0.6% ✕19th of 19
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.67 0.46 –7th of 19
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and GNRC doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: GNRC and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year. Where it comes up short: GNRC isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want, is trading above what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth right now, and trades rich relative to owner earnings, the real cash the business could pay out.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✕
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✕
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and GNRC falls short of his bar. In its favor: GNRC isn't over-leveraged for a company of its type. Where it comes up short: GNRC doesn't pay much of a dividend, which is the main reason to own a slow grower in the first place, isn't even growing at the modest pace he'd expect from a slow grower, is priced too rich for how little growth is actually left in the business, and trades expensive relative to the cash it actually generates.
- Dividend yield > 2.5% ✕
- EPS growth 0%-10% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✓
- P/E < 20 ✕
- Price/FCF < 25 ✕
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Generac Holdings pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $11.1B
- Trailing P/E < 25 43.12
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 n/a
- Price/Book < 8 3.87
- Price/Sales < 7 2.51
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +91.5%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Generac Holdings' margin of safety?
History tracking starts this week - check back in a future week to see how this has moved.
Where is Generac Holdings in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Generac Holdings?
2,576,973 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Generac Holdings? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case -2%
- Short interest under 5% of float 4.4%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 4/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +37% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2016 0.04 → 0.46
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Generac Holdings shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from GNRC's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Generac Holdings' 10-year financials show?
From GNRC's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Generac Holdings
What kind of company is Generac Holdings?
Generac makes backup generators for homes and businesses, plus solar and battery storage products and portable power equipment. Brands and businesses it owns include Generac, Guardian and PWRcell. This site groups it with Electrical Equipment stocks.
Is Generac Holdings trading above or below its DCF value?
At $188.02, GNRC trades 71.9% above this site's neutral DCF value of $109.37 per share, a margin of safety of −71.9%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Generac Holdings pass?
GNRC passes 3 of 8. It passes Price/Book < 8 (3.87), Price/Sales < 7 (2.51) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+91.5%). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($11.1B) and Trailing P/E < 25 (43.12). PEG Ratio < 1.5, vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
What growth is Generac Holdings' share price pricing in?
At $188.02, GNRC's free cash flow of $6.40 per share would have to grow 21.9% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for more growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
Does Generac Holdings pass the Buffett-style and Lynch-style checklists?
On this site's Buffett-style checklist GNRC clears 1 of 8 checks and leans no; it misses ROE (TTM) > 11%, Debt/Equity < 0.5 and Pretax margin > 15% and 4 more. On the Lynch-style checklist it clears 1 of 5 and leans no, with Slow Grower / Cyclical as its Lynch category; it misses Dividend yield > 2.5%, EPS growth 0%-10% and P/E < 20 and 1 more. These are this site's own rules written in the style of each investor, not their personal views; the rules are in the Editorial Standards.
When does Generac Holdings report earnings next?
Generac Holdings's next earnings report is expected on October 28, 2026 before the market opens, with analysts expecting earnings of $2.48 per share. Dates come from the Finnhub earnings calendar and can move. In its last 4 quarters it beat the estimate 2 times, by an average of +11.4%.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Generac Holdings's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Feb 18, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Generac Holdings Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Generac Holdings Inc (GNRC) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.