Lakeland Industries, Inc. (LAKE): A Bull Case Theory
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We came across a bullish thesis on Lakeland Industries, Inc. on everyonehatespoetry’s Newsletter’s Substack by everyonehatespoetry. In this article, we will summarize the bulls’ thesis on LAKE. Lakeland Industries, Inc.'s share was trading at $13.37 as of July 16th. LAKE’s trailing and forward P/E were 77.12 and 76.34 respectively according to Yahoo Finance.
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Lakeland Fire + Safety (LAKE), a $180 million market cap company, is undergoing a major transformation under its new CEO, Jim Jenkins, who took over full-time in 2024. Jenkins, previously head of M&A at Transcat (TRNS), helped drive TRNS’s stock up 350% through an aggressive acquisition strategy. He is now applying a similar playbook at LAKE, aiming to turn its steady but sleepy industrial PPE business into a high-growth fire safety roll-up.
LAKE’s core business has attractive fundamentals—gross margins in the 40-50% range, asset-light operations, and steady demand driven by regulation—but Jenkins is unlocking further growth through targeted acquisitions. Since taking the helm, LAKE has spent $70 million on fire safety acquisitions at ~6x EBITDA, positioning itself among the top five global players in head-to-toe fire safety gear.
The next focus is fire gear decontamination services, a high-margin, recurring revenue segment benefiting from growing health and safety mandates. Jenkins’ approach mirrors what worked at Transcat: roll up a fragmented, regulation-driven industry where larger players and private equity are less active in smaller deals.
Management has laid out a clear growth plan targeting ~$47 million of EBITDA by FY29, nearly doubling today’s levels, and is personally incentivized through performance-based stock units tied to hitting these financial goals. With organic growth, margin expansion, and disciplined M&A, the company could be worth ~$470 million in a few years, implying 160% upside. Risks include tariff impacts, execution missteps, and potential share dilution, but with strong leadership and secular tailwinds, LAKE offers a compelling multi-year growth story.
Previously we covered a bullish thesis on Lakeland Industries, Inc. by everyonehatespoetry in May 2025, which highlighted the company’s transformation into a fire safety roll-up under CEO Jim Jenkins, targeting $47 million EBITDA. The stock has depreciated ~27% since our coverage, as the thesis is still early in execution. everyonehatespoetry shares an identical view but emphasizes growing recurring revenue from decontamination services.
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