Hubbell Incorporated

Hubbell Incorporated is an American manufacturer of electrical and utility infrastructure components that sits at the intersection of two of the most durable investment cycles in the industrial economy: grid modernization and data center electrification. Founded in 1888 by Harvey Hubbell—the inventor of the pull-chain light socket and the separable electrical plug—the company has spent over a century embedding itself into the electrical infrastructure of North America, generating $5.84 billion in revenue in fiscal 2025 across roughly 18,000 employees.

This is a story about an old-line industrial company that transformed its portfolio without breaking its culture. A decade ago Hubbell was a GDP-tracking electrical products manufacturer with mid-single-digit operating margins. Today more than two-thirds of the portfolio is exposed to secular growth markets, operating margins have expanded to nearly 21%, and the company generates returns on invested capital approaching 20%. The transformation has been genuine—but it has also been recognized. At roughly 27 times trailing earnings and 19 times EBITDA, the market is already pricing a long runway of compounding. The question the file turns on is whether the runway is long enough, and the moat deep enough, to justify that price.