Richardson Electronics Ltd (RELL)
🔔 Watch stock
symbol.quality_heading
The business works in principle, but one material question is open. As long as it stays open, our findings do not carry a quality verdict.
The turn is documented; the funding of that turn is not. Anyone buying today pays about 41 times a profit of which less than an eighth arrived as cash in fiscal 2026. The three tests are concrete and dated. First, the annual report 10-K for fiscal 2026 — how large is the reserve against the $103.0 million of inventories, and does inventory valuation remain a critical audit matter? Second, the next quarterly report (10-Q) — do receivables fall back from $33.162 million and does operating cash flow turn positive again? Third, the backlog: does it hold above $164.4 million, or was the closing quarter a catch-up effect? If the answers come back positive, the fortress balance sheet earns a second look. Until then, watching is the more honest stance. The decision is yours.
symbol.quality_note
In fiscal 2026 Richardson Electronics finished with a sprint it had not managed since 2023: quarterly revenue up 27.6 percent, quarterly net income up 244.4 percent, backlog at $164.4 million. Jumps like that are exactly what puts a stock into our Big Earnings Surprise ranking, where RELL sits at rank 14 of the U.S. selection (as of July 25, 2026). One problem: cash from operations for the whole year came to $0.8 million, and the company ended the year with $4.1 million less in the bank than it started. Inventories of $103.0 million tie up nearly half a year of sales, and an 83-year-old founder holds 61 percent of the votes with 14 percent of the shares. Not investment advice — just the question of where the money went.
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Stock Watch
This analysis is as of July 25, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at RELL since then.
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Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 13 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
Trading Day
Key levels of the most recently completed trading day — not a live quote.
52-Week Range
Current price 18.30 $ — 72% of the range above the low.
Lowest and highest closing price over the last 52 weeks. The marker shows where the current price sits within that range: close to the high speaks for strength, close to the low for weakness.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 08/03/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
NeutralDokumentierter Negativ-Befund: In sechs ausgewerteten Einreichungen (Geschäftsberichte 10-K 2025 und 2024, alle drei Quartalsberichte 10-Q des Geschäftsjahres 2026 sowie die Ergebnismitteilung Form 8-K vom 22.07.2026) kommt kein einziger Treffer für „artificial intelligence“, „machine learning“, „generative“, „large language“, „LLM“, „AI“ oder „data center“ vor; Richardson Electronics beschreibt sich ausschließlich über Elektronenröhren, Hochfrequenz- und Leistungsbauteile, Energiespeicher und kundenspezifische Displays. Ein KI-Bezug besteht allenfalls mittelbar über die Belieferung der Halbleiterfertigung (Segment PMT, „semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment“), wird vom Unternehmen selbst aber nirgends als KI-Geschäft dargestellt.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
Filings Reviewed: 8-K 2026-07-22 · 10-Q 2026-04-09 · 10-Q 2026-01-08 · 10-Q 2025-10-09 · 10-K 2025-08-04 · 10-K 2024-08-05
Rated on July 25, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Analysts & Price Target
The price target sits 20.8% below the current price.
- Consensus
- Hold
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Next Reporting Date
- Expected Earnings per Share
- 0.10 $
Expected date of the next quarterly or annual figures. Dates do shift occasionally — only the invitation issued by the company is binding.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
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· Total · per year
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The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q3 | 0.04 | -55.60 | 54 | 2.20 | 1.10 | 0 | -1 |
| 2024: Q4 | -0.05 | 61.50 | 50 | 12.10 | -1.50 | 6 | 5 |
| 2026: Q2 | 0.21 | 75.00 | 66 | 27.60 | 5.60 | -4 | -5 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.11 | 120.00 | 54 | 2.70 | -3.80 | 5 | 4 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.12 | 500.00 | 52 | 9.50 | 2.10 | 0 | -1 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.13 | 225.00 | 55 | 1.60 | 3.50 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.01 | 80.00 | 52 | 5.70 | -0.20 | 0 | -2 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.07 | -36.40 | 56 | 3.10 | 1.60 | -3 | -3 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Revenue rose 9.4 percent to $228.6 million in fiscal 2026, the second consecutive year of growth; an operating loss of $2.463 million became income of $6.464 million. Backlog hit $164.4 million as of May 30, 2026, the highest level in three years, and all three units grew.
Against net income of $6.383 million stood only $0.762 million of cash from operations (prior year $10.552 million); receivables rose by $8.909 million. After $4.383 million of capital expenditures, free cash flow swung from +$7.7 million to −$3.6 million, and cash fell by $4.122 million to $31.779 million (May 30, 2026).
Equity of $163.701 million against total assets of $202.017 million (81 percent ratio), no drawn bank debt, a $20 million credit line through October 7, 2028, Altman Z-score of 6.71 (as of July 25, 2026). Bankruptcy risk is not an issue with this structure.
Inventories of $103.020 million tie up 45 percent of a year of sales and more than half the balance sheet (May 30, 2026). BDO USA, P.C. treats their valuation as a critical audit matter for fiscal 2025 and points to trailing edge technology in the PMT segment; $7.6 million of reserves were included as of May 31, 2025.
Roughly 61 percent of the voting power sits with Edward J. Richardson through the ten-vote Class B share, on roughly 14 percent of the capital (as of July 28, 2025); the company uses the Nasdaq controlled company exemption. The chairman is 83 per the proxy of August 25, 2025, and the annual report itself names him as a key person risk.
Roughly $263 million of market value (14.624 million shares × $18.01, price documented in Forms 4 for July 22, 2026) means about 41 times earnings at a 2.8 percent net margin — expensive for the earning power, though roughly half the market value sits in net current assets of about $134 million. The 52-week range runs from $9.26 to $23.15.
Richardson Electronics is the percentage trap in pure form: "net income up 244.4 percent" is accurate, but it mostly measures how weak the prior-year quarter was. Fiscal 2026 brought a genuine operating turn — $228.6 million of revenue (up 9.4 percent), $6.383 million of net income after a loss, $164.4 million of backlog. The cash simply never arrived: $0.762 million from operations, a free cash outflow of $3.6 million and $4.122 million less in the bank. On top sit inventories of $103.0 million that the auditor flags as the critical judgment, and an 83-year-old founder with 61 percent of the votes on 14 percent of the capital. The balance sheet is a fortress; the valuation at about 41 times earnings is not. Not investment advice.
- Richardson Electronics landed on the research list at rank 14 in our in-house Big Earnings Surprise ranking (U.S. selection with 81 hits), as of July 25, 2026, with a relative strength rating of 90. These lists are recalculated daily, so rank and composition can shift with the next run.
- Data cut-off and audit status: the annual report 10-K for fiscal 2026 had not been filed as of July 25, 2026. All fiscal 2026 annual and balance sheet figures come from the unaudited release of July 22, 2026 (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1). Structural, voting and auditor data come from the fiscal 2025 10-K and the proxy statement of August 25, 2025.
- Two states from the fiscal 2025 10-K are superseded and were carried over corrected: the PNC credit facility was extended on October 7, 2025 through October 7, 2028 and the limit cut from $30 million to $20 million; authorized capital was raised at the annual meeting of October 7, 2025 to 22 million common and 3 million Class B shares.
- Do not confuse: the non-calendar fiscal year ends in late May, so the "fourth quarter of fiscal 2026" covers the calendar months March through May 2026. The share count in market data feeds (12.52 million) covers only the listed common stock; market value and earnings per share rest on the 14.624 million common plus Class B shares.
About the Company
Richardson Electronics, Ltd. provides engineered solutions, power grid and microwave tube, and related consumables in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and Latin America. The company's Power and Microwave Technologies segment manufactures electron tubes and radio frequency (RF), microwave and power components used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, RF, and wireless and industrial power applications, as well as various applications, including broadcast transmission, CO2 laser cutting, diagnostic imaging, dielectric and induction heating, energy transfer, high voltage switching, plasma, power conversion, radar, and radiation oncology. This segment also provides thyratrons and rectifiers, power tubes, ignitrons, magnetrons, phototubes, microwave generators, ultracapacitor modules, and liquid crystal display monitors under the Amperex, Cetron, and National brands. Its Green Energy Solutions segment operates as a designer, manufacturer, technology partner, and distributor of products for green energy applications, such as wind, solar, hydrogen, and electric vehicles; and other power management applications that support green solutions comprising synthetic diamond manufacturing. The company's Canvys segment provides custom display solutions consisting of touch screens, protective panels, custom enclosures, all-in-one computers, specialized cabinet finishes and application-specific software packages, and certification. Its Healthcare segment offers diagnostic imaging replacement parts for CT and MRI systems, replacement CT and MRI tubes, CT service training, MRI and RF amplifiers, hydrogen thyratrons, klystrons, flat panel detector upgrades, pre-owned CT systems, and replacement solutions for the healthcare market. The company serves energy, healthcare, aviation, broadcast, communications, industrial, marine, medical, military, scientific, and semiconductor markets. The company was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in LaFox, Illinois.
| Employees | 396 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | LaFox, IL |
| Website | rell.com |
| IPO Date | 26. Mar 1990 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Edward J. Richardson | Chairman, CEO & President | 1942 |
| Robert J. Ben | Executive VP, CFO, Chief Accounting Officer & Corporate Secretary | 1965 |
| Wendy S. Diddell | Executive VP, COO & Director | 1965 |
| Gregory J. Peloquin | Executive Vice President of Power & Microwave Technologies Group | 1964 |
| Jens F. Ruppert | Executive VP & GM of Canvys | 1972 |
| Kathleen M. McNally | Executive Vice President of Global Supply Chain | 1960 |
| Christopher Marshall | CTO & VP of Marketing of Power and Microwave Technologies Group | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Insider Transactions
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29. Jul 2026 | Benham James | Director | Sell | 164 | 19.06 | 3,126 |
| 29. Jul 2026 | Benham James | Director | Other | 164 | 15.60 | 2,558 |
| 28. Jul 2026 | Plante Paul J | Director | Sell | 7,000 | 19.12 | 133,822 |
| 28. Jul 2026 | Plante Paul J | Director | Sell | 10,000 | 18.60 | 185,991 |
| 28. Jul 2026 | Plante Paul J | Director | Other | 5,000 | 15.51 | 77,550 |
| 28. Jul 2026 | Ruppert Jens Frank | EVP Canvys | Sell | 37,500 | 19.01 | 712,808 |
| 28. Jul 2026 | Ben Robert J | CFO, CAO, Corporate Secretary | Sell | 7,500 | 20.00 | 150,000 |
| 28. Jul 2026 | Ben Robert J | CFO, CAO, Corporate Secretary | Other | 2,000 | 9.73 | 19,460 |
| 28. Jul 2026 | Ben Robert J | CFO, CAO, Corporate Secretary | Other | 4,000 | 11.89 | 47,560 |
| 28. Jul 2026 | Ben Robert J | CFO, CAO, Corporate Secretary | Other | 1,500 | 7.66 | 11,490 |
Reportable transactions by officers and major shareholders from SEC Form 4 filings. "Other" includes things like stock grants and option exercises without a buy/sell character.
View all insider transactions →Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 31, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.