Is Powell Industries' Diversification Into Electric Utility Gaining Traction?

Powell Industries, Inc.’s POWL diversification efforts beyond its core oil, gas and petrochemical markets have enhanced its market share across the electric utility, commercial and other industrial markets. In the third quarter of fiscal 2025 (ended June 2025), revenues from the electric utility sector surged 31% year over year, while those from the commercial & other industrial sector increased 18%.

The company has been capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization. Its increased participation across the electrical power value chain has enabled it to generate solid bookings from the electric utility and commercial & other industrial markets.

This has led to a strong backlog level, which was $1.4 billion (increased 7% sequentially) while exiting the fiscal third quarter. New orders totaled $362 million in the fiscal third quarter compared with $356 million in the year-ago quarter. Importantly, the new orders consisted of a solid volume of small, medium and large-sized awards that reflected the company’s core competencies and well-balanced portfolio across markets.

It’s worth noting that in third-quarter fiscal 2025, Powell secured a contract for a new power generation plant, marking its largest electric utility award to date. Also, the company booked two large projects in the fiscal second quarter, one for a new Greenfield LNG facility along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

A strong pipeline of projects within the electric utility and commercial and other industrial markets, along with a solid backlog, is likely to support the company’s growth in the quarters ahead.

Segment Snapshot of POWL’s Peers

EnerSys ENS is witnessing strength in the Energy Systems segment, supported by the expansion of U.S. communications networks and AI-driven data demand. Revenues from EnerSys’ Energy Systems segment increased 8.4% in first-quarter fiscal 2026 (ended June 30, 2025). The global megatrends, including the expansion of 5G, rural broadband build-outs, the modernization of energy grids, electrification, automation and decarbonization, are likely to be favorable for EnerSys.

Eaton Corporation plc’s ETN Electrical and Aerospace segment backlog growth remained strong as orders and the supply chain began to normalize gradually. Rising backlog and solid orders for its products will continue to drive the performance of the company in the long run. The transition in Utility space and Aerospace growth will also benefit Eaton, as its customized products will fulfill the needs of these sectors. Eaton’s backlog, with orders, increased 17%, 16% and 1% in Electrical Americas, Aerospace and Electric Global, respectively, on a rolling 12-month basis.

POWL’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of Powell Industries have surged 73.2% in the past year compared with the industry’s growth of 21.2%.

From a valuation standpoint, POWL is trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30X, below the industry’s average of 23.36X. Powell Industries carries a Value Score of B.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for POWL’s fiscal 2025 (ending September 2025) earnings has increased 1.6% over the past 60 days.

The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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