Eaton Stock Looks Expensive Until You Price The Factory Ramp

Eaton (ETN) trades near $390 a share, about 39.7 times the adjusted earnings it made over the past twelve months. That basis is normalized net income with stock-based compensation added back, meant to sit closer to the analyst-consensus basis than a GAAP figure would, though the two adjusted measures are not defined identically. On that figure alone the stock looks dear. But it prices a year Eaton has already finished.