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Bull of the Day: Rockwell Automation, Inc. (ROK)

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Rockwell Automation, Inc. (ROK - Free Report) is an industrial automation and digital transformation company that’s posting strong top and bottom-line growth as it benefits from broader mega-trends across the economy, including reshoring and a never-ending push to streamline work through technological advancement.

Rockwell aims to help companies throughout various sectors and industries improve via an array of smart manufacturing offerings. ROK shares have soared over the last year, including an impressive climb over the last month.

Despite Rockwell’s market-crushing performance during the last 12 months and the last decade, ROK trades 10% below its own highs. And investors with a technical outlook might appreciate where ROK stands. Rockwell also pays a dividend and boasts other potentially attractive fundamentals right now.

Smart Manufacturing

Rockwell is an industrial automation and digital transformation company that aims to create what it often refers to as the next generation of smart manufacturing. ROK is helping drive forward the tech-supported and constantly-connected economy to help its customers with all of their automation challenges.

ROK operates three core business units: Intelligent Devices, Software & Control, and Lifecycle Services. Rockwell’s products and solutions serve an array of industries including power generation, aerospace, infrastructure, semiconductors, life sciences, warehouse and fulfillment, and beyond.

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Rockwell’s product categories include connection devices, energy monitoring, human machine interface, motion control, industrial control, sensors & switches, and much, much more. ROK’s software offerings broadly cover areas such as analytics and data management, design, industrial communications, and beyond.

Growth and Outlook

The economic trends that have helped Rockwell thrive are almost certainly going to keep progressing. Rockwell is also benefitting from reshoring in places such as the U.S. as companies reevaluate their own supply chains and manufacturing following covid bottlenecks and geopolitical pressures.

Companies are now diving headfirst into building semiconductors, EVs, solar panels, and much more in the U.S. and other places outside of China. Rockwell’s revenue climbed by roughly 11% in both FY21 and FY22. ROK most recently posted blowout Q2 FY23 results and provided upbeat guidance in late April.

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Zacks estimates call for Rockwell’s revenue to climb by over 14% in FY23 to $8.87 billion and then pop another 4% in FY24. Meanwhile, its adjusted earnings are projected to jump by 27% and 7%, respectively to hit $12.84 a share next year.

ROK’s upward earnings revisions for FY23 and FY24 help it land a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) right now.

Price, Technical Levels & Valuation

Rockwell shares have soared roughly 1,200% in the last 20 years to blow away the S&P 500’s 340% and its Zacks Industrial Products sector’s 230%. ROK’s total return over this stretch of around 1,900% also tops the benchmark’s 600%.

Rockwell has posted a 255% run over the past 10 years to top the S&P 500’s 175% and its sector’s 60%. ROK shares are closer to neck-and-neck with the benchmark in the past three years, with its recent surge helping Rockwell look slightly stronger.

As we touched on up top, Rockwell has soared 55% in the last year as Wall Street jumps back into the beaten-down stock. ROK trades near its 52-week highs, but around 10% beneath its late 2021 records.   

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ROK’s year-long comeback helped it achieve the bullish golden cross back in November. Rockwell found support at its 50-day moving average at the end of May and has rebounded higher since then.

ROK is coming up against the edge of overbought RSI levels on a 12-month basis, which means it could face some near-term selling pressure. But ROK remains closer to neutral on a five-year time scale.

On the valuation side, ROK trades at a roughly 27% discount to its own 10-year highs at 24.3X forward 12-month earnings, while trading 10% below its peaks in terms of price. And Rockwell is trading not too far above its own five-year median even though its stock price has jumped 90% during this stretch.

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Bottom Line

Rockwell’s dividend currently yields around 1.5%. And the company closed last quarter with $1.1 billion remaining under its existing share repurchase authorization.

Investors have shown their love for Rockwell given its ability to grow alongside crucial segments of the economy, and benefit from the never-ending need to automate and infuse tech into every aspect of the industrial ecosystem.

Most recently, Rockwell is poised to ride the newfound wave and commitment to domestic manufacturing and reshoring in the U.S. and elsewhere for years, if not decades.


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