Key insights
- Hexatronic (HTRO), a fiber infrastructure company, is shifting its focus towards the data center segment, which is now its primary profit driver with 20% YoY growth. The company has made several US acquisitions to expand its presence in the data center market, particularly serving hyperscale and colocation providers. This shift is driven by strong AI tailwinds and a decline in the traditional telecom/FTTH sector. This could positively influence US-listed data center REITs and related infrastructure plays.
I would like to get a second opinion on $HTRO. It reported softer Q1 earnings last week, which led to a sharp sell-off, but the stock has since bounced as the market digested the news and is trading higher.
The company is positioned downstream as a pure passive fibre infrastructure play: cables, microducts, connectors, closures, cabinets, racks + high-density data centre assemblies & structured cabling. Harsh-environment rugged connectivity, too. Data centres and harsh environments are their more profitable segments as the old-school fibre is in decline.
And bc of this, HTRO has also been declining since the peak in 2021, as the largest part of its revenue mix had been telecom/FTTH (still the largest but declining). But in the recent quarter, it reported that the data centre segment is now its #1 profit driver, +20% organic YoY growth (~25–30% of sales and 46% of group EBITA, growing fast in the US). Very strong AI passive tailwind. Strong exposure via US-based acquisitions. Serves large-scale data centre operators, including hyperscale and colocation providers. The company has made six acquisitions in the US over the last 10 years and is expanding rapidly, particularly in the data centre segment.
Prominent acquisitions: ___ - Communication Zone (acquired Chicago, late 2025): Explicitly stated to have “several hyperscale and colocation customers” in low-voltage/data-cabling projects. - Data Centre Systems (DCS) (acquired 2021, Dallas): Focuses on structured cabling for US data centres serving telecom, financial services, cloud, and technology companies. - USNet (acquired 2023, Texas): Installation, decommissioning, and relocation services for “large-scale data centre customers” and “numerous Fortune 500 companies.” Key metrics: Mcap SEK 7.84B (USD 780M) P/S (TTM) 1.07x P/B (acquisitionsmrq) 2.18x EV/Revenue 1.36x Cash Balance 60m USD Leverage 2.2x adj. EBITDA 1.67B debt ÷ 760M SEK= 2.2x At HUBN multiples, which is a close comparison in terms of product mix in Europe, the stock would be 2-3x higher. Not an immediate candidate for rerating, but IMO a steady compounder.