IDEX’s 24.2% return over the past six months has outpaced the S&P 500 by 17.7%, and its stock price has climbed to $206.19 per share. This performance may have investors wondering how to approach the situation.

Is there a buying opportunity in IDEX, or does it present a risk to your portfolio? Get the full stock story straight from our expert analysts, it’s free.

Why Do We Think IDEX Will Underperform?

Despite the momentum, we're sitting this one out for now. Here are three reasons we avoid IEX and a stock we'd rather own.

1. Core Business Falling Behind as Demand Plateaus

We can better understand Gas and Liquid Handling companies by analyzing their organic revenue. This metric gives visibility into IDEX’s core business because it excludes one-time events such as mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures along with foreign currency fluctuations - non-fundamental factors that can manipulate the income statement.

Over the last two years, IDEX failed to grow its organic revenue. This performance was underwhelming and implies it may need to improve its products, pricing, or go-to-market strategy. It also suggests IDEX might have to lean into acquisitions to accelerate growth, which isn’t ideal because M&A can be expensive and risky (integrations often disrupt focus).

2. EPS Took a Dip Over the Last Two Years

While long-term earnings trends give us the big picture, we also track EPS over a shorter period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.

Sadly for IDEX, its EPS declined by 1.7% annually over the last two years while its revenue grew by 2.8%. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

3. New Investments Fail to Bear Fruit as ROIC Declines

We like to invest in businesses with high returns, but the trend in a company’s ROIC can also be an early indicator of future business quality.

We like to invest in businesses with high returns, but the trend in a company’s ROIC is what often surprises the market and moves the stock price. Unfortunately, IDEX’s ROIC has decreased over the last few years. We like what management has done in the past, but its declining returns are perhaps a symptom of fewer profitable growth opportunities.

Final Judgment

We cheer for all companies making their customers lives easier, but in the case of IDEX, we’ll be cheering from the sidelines. With its shares topping the market in recent months, the stock trades at 25.2× forward P/E (or $206.19 per share). This valuation tells us a lot of optimism is priced in - you can find more timely opportunities elsewhere. We’d suggest looking at our favorite semiconductor picks and shovels play.

Stocks We Like More Than IDEX

The market’s up big this year - but there’s a catch. Just 4 stocks account for half the S&P 500’s entire gain. That kind of concentration makes investors nervous, and for good reason. While everyone piles into the same crowded names, smart investors are hunting quality where no one’s looking - and paying a fraction of the price. Check out the high-quality names we’ve flagged in our Top 6 Stocks for this week. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).

Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,754% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.