ACCO Stock: Cheap High-Yield Income Play Being Overlooked?
May 29, 2025
ACCO Stock Offering Solid Income & Selling for a Discount
Truth be told, Wall Street doesn’t love boring companies. If you’re not in artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, or cryptocurrency, good luck getting investor attention. And that’s exactly what’s happening with ACCO Brands Corp (NYSE:ACCO) right now. The market is ignoring ACCO stock, brushing it aside as “risky” and “not worth looking at.”
But smart income investors should be paying close attention, because ACCO stock checks a lot of the right boxes. It’s dirt-cheap at the moment, plus it pays a solid dividend, with management being firmly committed to rewarding shareholders.
What Does ACCO Brands Do?
ACCO Brands is one of the world’s largest suppliers of select categories of branded academic, consumer, and business products. Its product portfolio includes everything from notebooks and planners to whiteboards, shredders, and computer and gaming accessories.
The company markets its products in over 100 countries through its own sales force and distribution networks, operating through two business segments: ACCO Brands Americas and ACCO Brands International.
ACCO Brands sells its product under industry-leading brands, such as “Artline,” “AT-A-GLANCE,” “Barrilito,” “Five Star,” “Foroni,” “GBC,” “Hilroy,” “Kensington,” “Leitz,” “Mead,” “Quartet,” “Rapid,” “Rexel,” “Swingline,” “Tilibra,” and “Wilson Jones.” (Source: “Overview,” ACCO Brands Corp, last accessed May 21, 2025.)
ACCO Stock Trading at Rock-Bottom Valuations
Now let’s look at the valuations…
At the time of writing, ACCO stock is trading for just around $3.63 per share. That gives it market capitalization of roughly $326.0 million. Just so you know, this is a company that generates well over $1.0 billion in annual revenue.
In both 2025 and 2026, the company’s sales are expected to hit over $1.5 billion.
Moreover, ACCO Brands has positive cash flow, it’s not overloaded by immense debt, and it has a global presence.
Digging in a little deeper…
On a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio basis, ACCO stock trades at just 3.96x its forward earnings. The S&P 500’s 12-month forward P/E ratio stands at over 21!
But we won’t just stop there. ACCO stock trades at a price-to-sales (P/S) ratio of 0.22. This means investors are valuing each $1.00 of sales at the company at just $0.22. The five-year-average P/S ratio for ACCO stock is 0.32. That’s 31% below the five-year average. (Source: “Valuation,” Morning Star, last accessed May 21, 2025.)
If you look at other valuation measures, you’ll see they suggest the same thing: ACCO stock is selling for pennies on the dollar.
What’s more, this valuation comes at a time when ACCO Brands is actively improving its fundamentals. ACCO has been cutting costs and streamlining its operations. Speaking from experience, these sorts of opportunities are rare and they don’t remain low for very long.
Solid Dividends Still Flowing for ACCO Stockholders
ACCO stock currently offers an inflation-crushing dividend yield of 8.2%, with a quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share. That’s significantly higher than the broader market and even higher than many utility stocks, real estate investment trusts (REITs), or traditional dividend-payers.
Chart Courtesy of StockCharts.com
And here’s the kicker: this isn’t a “dividend trap.” As I touched on earlier, ACCO Brands is still generating positive free cash flow, and the payout ratio remains manageable.
But it’s not just about the numbers—it’s about management’s mindset, too.
In spite of macroeconomic challenges, soft demand in some segments, and ongoing transformation efforts, ACCO Brands’ leadership has consistently said that the dividend remains a prime concern. In fact, they reaffirmed this in the most recent earnings release.
The message is clear: income investors are still a priority.
I will just say this: the level of commitment to dividends here is very rare. You don’t normally see this among small-cap companies.
Beyond all of this, ACCO Brands is also buying back its shares. In the first quarter of 2025, the company repurchased 3.2 million ACCO shares, spending $15.0 million.
Why does this matter?
Well, a lower share count means higher shareholder equity, supports the stock price, and is beneficial for those who own ACCO stock.
The Lowdown on ACCO Stock
The fact is that ACCO stock is being ignored, and that’s exactly what makes it a compelling opportunity.
ACCO Brands stock is trading at multi-year lows and the company boasts a management team that’s laser-focused on improving the business and a dividend that yields more than double what you get from most blue-chips.
The market has punished ACCO stock based on the recent financial figures, but it’s missing the big picture.
Lastly, institutional investors remain invested. As per the most recent data, 301 institutions own close to 84% of all outstanding ACCO shares. BlackRock, Inc., The Vanguard Group, and Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC are the biggest holders of ACCO stock. Combined, these three institutions own over 20.3 million shares. (Source: “Holders,” Yahoo! Finance, last accessed May 21, 2025.)
