IPD Group: Earnings-Accretive Platinum Cables Acquisition Offsets Full Valuation, Justifying Hold Rating

IPD Group Ltd, the Industrials sector company, was revisited by a Wall Street analyst today. Analyst Nick Maxwell from PAC Partners maintained a Hold rating on the stock and has a A$4.52 price target.

Nick Maxwell has given his Hold rating due to a combination of factors surrounding IPD Group’s recent acquisition and current valuation. He notes that the Platinum Cables purchase, struck at roughly 5.2x expected FY25 EBIT with further earn-out potential, should lift IPD’s earnings and margins and create attractive cross-selling opportunities, particularly by adding mine-approved cables that complement the existing CMI product suite. The deal is expected to be meaningfully earnings accretive in FY25 even before considering synergies, and the new debt facilities put in place provide sufficient funding capacity for the transaction and ongoing working capital needs.

At the same time, Maxwell judges that the share price already discounts much of this upside, leaving the stock trading at what he sees as a full valuation for a business whose expansion is heavily acquisition-driven. On his estimates, IPD is now priced at around 9.7x FY26 EV/EBITDA and 17x FY26 earnings, levels he considers fair rather than compelling. He also highlights that Platinum’s historical growth, while solid, appears to have been more heavily skewed to earlier years, which tempers expectations for future acceleration. Balancing the strategic benefits and earnings uplift from the acquisition against the limited valuation headroom, he reiterates a Hold stance with a modestly higher price target of $4.52.