At a glance
Exponent Inc is worth $3.67B, about 37 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. Revenue grew 4.2% to $582.0M in fiscal 2025, with 18.2% kept as profit; over 5 years it has grown 7.8% a year. It pays a 1.6% dividend yield, raised every year for at least 9 years, and returned $550.6M to shareholders in dividends and buybacks over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned +16.5% over the past year with dividends reinvested and −6.5% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 26.7% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 30.4% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 3 months and 28 months after the lows.
The business in plain English
Exponent is a science and engineering consulting firm. Its scientists, physicians, engineers and business consultants come from more than 90 technical disciplines. They work out why products, structures and systems fail and help clients make them safer. The firm grew out of Failure Analysis Associates, founded in 1967, and took the Exponent name in 1998.
Many engagements come from large companies, or from lawyers and insurers whose clients face or expect lawsuits over products, equipment or services. Several practices focus on litigation support, meaning expert analysis used in legal disputes. Exponent charges either a fixed price or by the hour. Standard rates for its professionals run from $225 to $1,375 an hour, and it raises them at the start of each fiscal year. Clients can end engagements at any time. In fiscal 2025, which ended January 2, 2026, consumer products clients made up about 21% of revenue, energy and utilities 20%, transportation 16% and chemicals 11%.
Its 17 practices sit in two segments. Engineering and Other Scientific covers fields such as vehicle engineering, biomechanics, battery safety and construction consulting. It brought in about $494 million, or 85% of the $582 million total that year. Environmental and Health covers chemical regulation, food safety and health sciences, and it supplied the other 15%. About 89% of revenue came from the US.
Price history
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EXPO +16.5% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
How it makes money
By business segment
| Engineering And Other Scientific | $493.9M | 84.9% |
| Environmental And Health | $88.1M | 15.1% |
By geography
| US | $520.6M | 89.4% |
| Non Us | $61.4M | 10.6% |
Latest results
- In Q2 FY2026 (ended Jul 3, 2026), revenue was $171.6M, up 20.9% from a year earlier, and net income was $29.4M (+10.7%).
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $582.0M (+4.2% year over year; +7.8% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 18.2% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +7.8% good |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | 20.6% good |
| Free cash flow margin | 21% good |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | 27.2% good |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | 13.6% good |
| Cash and investments | $66.6M (no borrowings found in the filings) good |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $399.9M | $82.6M | $98.3M |
| FY2021 | $466.3M | $101.2M | $117.7M |
| FY2022 | $513.3M | $102.3M | $81.8M |
| FY2023 | $536.8M | $100.3M | $111.0M |
| FY2024 | $558.5M | $109.0M | $137.6M |
| FY2025 | $582.0M | $106.0M | $122.3M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $3.67B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 37.3 |
| Dividend yield | 1.6% |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
Exponent’s market value went from $1.54B at the end of 2016 to $3.67B on Oct 28, 2026, about 2.4 times as much; since the end of 2025 it is up 6%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $3.67B | +5.8% |
| 2025 | $3.47B | -23.4% |
| 2024 | $4.52B | +1.5% |
| 2023 | $4.46B | -11.2% |
| 2022 | $5.02B | -17.5% |
| 2021 | $6.08B | +30.9% |
| 2020 | $4.65B | +30.0% |
| 2019 | $3.58B | +35.6% |
| 2018 | $2.64B | +43.7% |
| 2017 | $1.84B | +18.9% |
| 2016 | $1.54B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EXPO price data to Oct 28, 2026 | +12.6% | +16.5% | +3.5% | -6.5% | +11.8% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | +12.6% |
| 2025 | -20.8% |
| 2024 | +2.4% |
| 2023 | -10.1% |
| 2022 | -14.3% |
| 2021 | +30.7% |
| 2020 | +31.8% |
| 2019 | +37.5% |
| 2018 | +44.2% |
| 2017 | +19.4% |
| 2016 | +22.4% |
| 2015 | +22.7% |
| 2014 | +8.2% |
| 2013 | +39.8% |
| 2012 | +21.4% |
| 2011 | +22.5% |
| 2010 | +34.8% |
| 2009 | -7.5% |
| 2008 | +11.2% |
| 2007 | +44.9% |
| 2006 | +31.5% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Lost 9.3% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 46.2%, back to its old high 21.3 months after the low |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 25.6% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 26.7%, back to its old high 3.4 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 23.6% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 30.4%, back to its old high 27.5 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-30 to 2026-10-30 (25 read): 1 open-market purchases ($13K) and 14 sales ($1.7M), 10 of them under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans.
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 13, 2026 | Joseph Rakow Group Vice President | sell | $161K |
| Apr 15, 2026 | Catherine Corrigan President & CEO, Director | sell (plan) | $150K |
| Mar 16, 2026 | Catherine Corrigan President & CEO, Director | sell (plan) | $149K |
| Jun 15, 2026 | Catherine Corrigan President & CEO, Director | sell (plan) | $133K |
| May 15, 2026 | Catherine Corrigan President & CEO, Director | sell (plan) | $128K |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management, LLC | 7.9% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | 6.07% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Vanguard Capital Management | 5.25% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| Conestoga Capital Advisors | 5.06% | Dec 31, 2025 |
ETFs with the most weight in EXPO
| XMHQ Invesco S&P MidCap Quality ETF | 0.69% |
| QSML WisdomTree U.S. SmallCap Quality Growth Fund | 0.63% |
| WCEO Hypatia Women CEO ETF | 0.59% |
| SEIS SEI Select Small Cap ETF | 0.43% |
| IWO iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF | 0.36% |
| PAVE Global X US Infrastructure Development ETF | 0.35% |
| JHSC John Hancock Multifactor Small Cap ETF | 0.32% |
| VTWG Vanguard Russell 2000 Growth ETF | 0.32% |
What could go wrong
- Demand depends on unpredictable events. Much of Exponent's work responds to events that arise without warning. Clients can delay or end projects at any time, and its backlog of signed work is small, so results can swing quarter to quarter.
- Tort reform or deregulation could cut demand. Several practices rely heavily on litigation support (expert work for lawsuits). If tort reform, deregulation or weaker enforcement reduces companies' legal exposure, fewer clients may need Exponent's expert analysis.
- Conflicts of interest limit potential clients. Its litigation work is usually adversarial. Working for one side of a dispute can rule out work for other parties, which limits how many clients and projects Exponent can take on.
- Reputation is central to winning work. Exponent competes for work on the credibility of its consultants. Allegations against the firm or its experts, proven or not, could damage its reputation and make it harder to win clients and keep professionals.
- AI could reduce demand for its work. Exponent warns that artificial intelligence tools may reduce demand for its services and change what clients expect. Its own use of AI also brings operational, legal and regulatory risks.
- Depends on hard-to-find skilled experts. Exponent largely sells its experts' time. If it cannot hire, train or keep people with the right skills as client needs, technology and legal processes change, growth and profits could suffer.
Recent events
- Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
- Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
- Shareholder vote results
- Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
- Executive or board change
- Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
- Quarterly results released; Investor presentation or announcement
For income and retirement investors
Exponent had raised its dividend at least nine years in a row through fiscal 2025. Dividends per share rose from $0.76 in fiscal 2020 to $1.20 in fiscal 2025. In fiscal 2025 the payout used about 57% of earnings and 49% of free cash flow, which is the cash left after running and investing in the business. The yield was a modest 1.6% as of October 28, 2026. Buybacks totaled about $290 million from fiscal 2021 to 2025, and the share count fell about 9% between October 2021 and July 2026.
The stock fell about 46% in the 2008 financial crisis and recovered by December 2010. It fell about 27% in the 2020 COVID crash and recovered by July 2020. In the 2022 bear market it fell about 30% and did not regain its peak until September 2024. Over the three years to October 28, 2026, its deepest drop from a high was about 52%. A single stock carries more risk than a diversified fund.
Questions investors ask
How does Exponent make money?
Exponent earns consulting fees for scientific and engineering analysis, often tied to accidents, product failures and lawsuits. It charges either a fixed price or by the hour, with standard rates for its professionals of $225 to $1,375 an hour. In fiscal 2025, which ended January 2, 2026, its Engineering and Other Scientific segment produced about 85% of $582 million in revenue. Environmental and Health produced about 15%. Consumer products clients made up about 21% of revenue, and energy and utilities 20%.
Does Exponent raise its dividend every year?
Yes, so far. Exponent had raised its dividend at least nine years in a row through fiscal 2025, and the streak may be longer. Dividends per share reached $1.20 in fiscal 2025, up from $0.76 in fiscal 2020. That works out to about 9.6% growth a year. The fiscal 2025 payout used about 57% of earnings. The company's annual report says there is no assurance it will keep paying dividends or buying back shares at any particular level.
Does Exponent have any debt?
Exponent appears to carry little or no debt. Its filings show no reported borrowings as of July 3, 2026. On that date it held about $67 million in cash and investments, total assets of about $653 million and shareholders' equity of about $289 million. The company does warn that it holds substantial investments that could present liquidity risks. That means they might not be easy to sell quickly at full value.
Is Exponent stock expensive?
Measured by earnings, the shares are not cheap. As of October 28, 2026, the stock traded at about 37 times fiscal 2025 earnings of $2.07 per share, for a market value of about $3.7 billion. This price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio shows how much investors pay for each dollar of annual profit. Net income slipped 2.7% in fiscal 2025. In the quarter ended July 3, 2026, revenue rose 20.9% and net income rose 10.7% from a year earlier.
How has Exponent stock performed?
Results are mixed. Based on share price as of October 28, 2026, the stock was up about 16.5% over one year and about 206% in total over 10 years, or 11.8% a year on average. Over five years it was down about 29%. It fell in three of the four calendar years from 2022 through 2025, including drops of about 14% in 2022 and 21% in 2025. It gained about 12.6% from the start of 2026 through October 28.