AMETEK (AME): a $7.4 billion maker of niche instruments that grows by buying companies

AMETEK makes electronic instruments — process analyzers, sensors, 3D measurement systems, aviation and power-grid instruments — and electromechanical devices such as precision motion control, motors, medical components and aircraft thermal systems, sold into niche industrial markets. In 2025 revenue was $7.40 billion, up 6.6%, and net income $1.48 billion, or $6.40 a share. The stock closed at $248.13 on October 28, 2026, for a market value of $56.9 billion.

The company reports two groups. Electronic Instruments (EIG) had $4.92 billion of 2025 sales, two-thirds of the total, with a segment operating margin of 29.4%; Electromechanical (EMG) had $2.48 billion and a 23.3% margin. After corporate costs, operating income was $1.91 billion, a 25.8% margin. Customers in the United States accounted for 51.8% of sales, Asia 20.1% and the European Union 14.7%.

Growth by acquisition

Every 10-K since 2008 reports cash spent on acquisitions, from $72.9 million in the 2009 recession to $2.24 billion in 2023, the year it bought Paragon Medical for $1.9 billion. From 2021 through 2025 AMETEK completed 15 acquisitions with about $1.8 billion of annual sales, including FARO Technologies in July 2025 for about $920 million. On August 26, 2026 it completed the purchase of Indicor Instrumentation for $5.0 billion in cash, a business with about $1.1 billion of annual sales — more than it spent in any single year since at least 2008.

Debt was $2.04 billion on June 30, 2026, before the Indicor deal closed. In June the company raised its revolving credit facility to $3.5 billion and signed a term loan facility of up to $4.0 billion; how much it drew will appear in the third-quarter 10-Q.

From 1930 to 2026

AMETEK’s predecessor was incorporated in Delaware in 1930 as American Machine and Metals. Today’s company dates from a 1997 spin-off: the old AMETEK moved its businesses into a new company, kept only its water filtration business and merged it into Culligan, and shareholders received one new AMETEK share plus about 0.11 Culligan share for each old share. David Zapico has been chief executive since May 2016 and chairman since 2017.

Sales fell 17.1% in 2009 and 12.0% in 2020, during the pandemic; profit still rose in 2020 because it included a $141.0 million pre-tax gain from selling the Reading Alloys business. In the first half of 2026 revenue rose 13.2% to $3.97 billion and net income 13.5% to $806 million. The company expects 2026 sales to rise about 10% and adjusted earnings of $8.20 to $8.30 a share; third-quarter results had not been released as of October 28.

The stock since 1997

At $248.13 the stock traded at 36.3 times earnings of the last four quarters, was up 34.1% over twelve months and 4.0% below its record close of $258.52 on August 12, 2026. Measured from August 1, 1997, the first session of today’s AMETEK, $1,000 of stock would be worth about $76,600 on October 28, 2026, or about $94,200 with dividends reinvested, against about $13,400 for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF with dividends reinvested. The quarterly dividend was raised 10% in February 2026, to $0.34 a share, a yield of about 0.55%.

Who owns it, and who traded

Vanguard (11.0%) and BlackRock (7.5%) are the only holders above 5% listed in the 2026 proxy statement. Seven of the 38 investment managers this site tracks held AMETEK at the end of June; Cliff Asness’s AQR had the largest stake, 1.38 million shares worth $330 million, and Israel Englander’s Millennium more than doubled its position, while Two Sigma cut 75% and Ken Griffin’s Citadel 23%.

Insiders sold about $34.8 million of stock in the twelve months to October 28, 2026, none of it reported under a 10b5-1 trading plan and $28.4 million of it in filings where they also exercised stock options. Chief executive David Zapico sold $17.3 million in November 2025 after exercising 88,000 options, and a charitable trust reported in his filings sold $5.7 million in December. The only open-market purchase was by director Nick Stanage, a former Hexcel chief executive, who bought $1.02 million of stock at $255.85 on August 11, 2026.

The figures above come from AMETEK’s 10-K and 10-Q filings, its earnings release, its proxy statements and the 13F, Form 4 and Form 144 filings. They describe what happened; they are not a forecast and not investment advice.