How does each buyer type price the same manufacturer?
Each buyer type prices a manufacturer with a different earnings base, a different return hurdle, and a different fear. Publishing one "manufacturing multiple" is how generalist decks over-promise. This page is the comparison. It still refuses to blend a $400k-SDE brake shop with a $6 million-EBITDA medical molder.
The order of operations
- Name the sub-sector. Diligence changes with the process. Start at sub-sectors.
- Name the size band. SDE under $1 million is not EBITDA $3–10 million.
- Name who can actually close that band.
- Then talk about structure: cash, note, earn-out, rollover.
Manufacturing business valuation is the long table. This page is who shows up to argue it.
Comparison table (habits, not quotes)
| Buyer type | Earnings base | Habit range (see research) | Structure habit | Walks when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual / SBA | SDE or lender-ready EBITDA | Main Street SDE band; BizBuySell mfg median 2.75x | 7(a) / 504; standby-note rules | Loan will not fit $5M or DSCR |
| Search fund | Adjusted EBITDA | Study median ~6.2x on a ~25% margin file | Bank + investors + often seller note | Owner is the company; margin is thin |
| Independent sponsor | Adjusted EBITDA | PE-like, more creative | Raise + debt + rollover | Capital path is fog |
| PE add-on | Adjusted EBITDA | Higher-EV series; GF Data ~7.2x is not a right | Cash + rollover; QoE | No second chair; lapsed cert |
| Strategic | Synergy + make-vs-buy | Can clear above financials if scarce | More cash; tighter non-compete | Consent risk; you have no alternative |
| ESOP | Trustee valuation | Feasibility-constrained | Leverage + seller note | Cash flow cannot carry the trust |
| MBO / family | Negotiated vs reference | Often a named discount | Seller paper | Financing fails; fairness fight |
Sources: BizBuySell / Iconic recap; Stanford GSB 2026; Iconic GF Data recap; SBA; IBBA Q1 2026. None of those cells is a quote on your plant.
Worked contrast (illustrative only)
Illustrative only, machining, sde-under-1m: $380,000 SDE, owner-estimator, 28% top customer. An SBA individual may live at 2.3x–3.0x SDE. A searcher who needs 20%+ EBITDA after a GM hire may pass. A PE add-on should pass. A strategic might pay a scarce-process premium or might not appear.
Illustrative only, medical molding, ebitda-3-10m: $4.1 million adjusted EBITDA, ISO 13485, 19% top customer. SBA 7(a) alone may not fit the EV. A searcher at Stanford-like math may compete. An add-on and a strategic should both be in the process. Using 2.75x SDE here is malpractice.
Process implication
Run the buyer types that can actually close. Do not run a theater of twenty teasers to people who cannot.
Climate still is not a multiple
ISM August 2026 PMI 54.6, Prices 71.1 (Source: ISM). Fed G.17 utilization 76.0% in July 2026 (Source: Fed G.17). Use them as operating context in a CIM. Do not use them to invent a 2026 buyer-type spread.
Educational information only. A broker opinion of value is not an appraisal. Jason Taken is a business broker.
Sub-sector still moves the cell
The comparison table above is buyer type. The hub tables are process. A searcher looking at an AS9100 shop and an SBA buyer looking at commodity apparel are not in the same argument even at the same EBITDA. Open the sub-sector index before you pick a favorite buyer.
Specialty medical, aero, and specified packaging support higher cells when the certificate is live. Commodity fab, commodity print, and import-exposed sewn products sit lower. Chemicals add environmental cost. Tooling adds cycle. OEMs add aftermarket mix. State those facts in the CIM.
Asset floor versus earnings
Every buyer type still faces OLV. If the iron plus clean NWC exceeds earnings value, you are in an asset-aware deal. PE will walk or re-trade. SBA lenders will notice. Strategics may buy the process and leave the tired iron. Families who ignore the floor gift a problem.
AI is not a turn
IBBA Q1 2026: 67% of advisors saw no material AI effect on value (Source: IBBA). Do not invent an AI premium because the shop bought a CAM seat. Do not invent an AI discount because a blog said job shops are dead. The job-cost file is the story.
The comparison table is not a permission slip to blend shops
PE, strategics, searchers, SBA individuals, ESOPs, and families do not share an earnings base. A $400k-SDE shop and a $6 million-EBITDA supplier do not become the same file because they met the same buyer class. Read the sub-sector hubs before you exclusive. ESOP financing is the capital page when the trust path is real; this page only compares how that buyer argues price.
IBBA Market Pulse Q1 2026 found 83% of deals over $5 million drew three or more offers (Source: IBBA). That is an argument for a process, not a promised bid count.
What the comparison table is for — and what it is not
The table is a map of arguments, not a permission slip to blend a $400k-SDE shop with a $6 million-EBITDA supplier. PE wants reportable EBITDA. Strategics pay for scarcity. Searchers filter on margin profile. SBA lives in a published box. ESOPs need feasibility. Families need fairness documents. Read the sub-sector hub before you exclusive with any of them.
ESOP financing is the capital companion when the trust path is real. This page only compares how that buyer argues price.
How to use the comparison without exclusive-too-early
Start with size band and sub-sector. Then ask which class can actually clear the file. Then ask which class would leak the book if you tour too early. IBBA's three-or-more-offers figure on larger deals is an argument for a process, not a promised bid count. A $400k-SDE shop that met a PE associate is still an SBA or individual file until the earnings base says otherwise.
What the first twenty minutes should decide about buyer class
The intro call on this comparison page sorts arguments, not personalities. Can more than one class clear the same size band? Is the iron already worth more than the earnings story? Is the certificate the product? Does a non-U.S. person in the cap table create a clock? Does the owner need all cash? Is “PE” a real add-on thesis or a vocabulary preference? HedgeStone will refuse a process that leaks the book.
The conversion path on this comparison page is still the intro call. There is no form. Email jason.taken@hedgestone.com after a conversation if documents need to move. Educational information only. Confirm tax and securities questions with a CPA and counsel before anyone exclusive.
Why the same plant gets five different first questions
A PE add-on starts at reportable EBITDA and a QoE budget. A strategic starts at the certificate and the customer they already know. A searcher starts at margin versus the Stanford ~25% median and whether they can be CEO (Source: Stanford GSB). An SBA individual starts at SDE after a replacement wage and whether the check fits a $5 million 7(a) (Source: SBA). An ESOP trustee starts at adequate consideration and whether cash flow can carry repurchase plus debt.
Those are not five multiples. They are five earnings bases and five close calendars. Blending them is how a $400k-SDE job shop gets told it is “about 6x because PE is active.” BizBuySell’s 2021–2025 manufacturing median remains 2.75x SDE on about $268k of earnings (Source: BizBuySell / Iconic). That print and a larger-EV sponsor print can both be true. Neither is a quote.
| Buyer class | First number they believe | First document they open |
|---|---|---|
| PE add-on | Adjusted EBITDA after a real GM | QoE request list |
| Strategic | Contribution after their overhead | Certificate and customer overlap |
| Searcher | Margin after replacement wage | Buybox fit versus Stanford shape |
| SBA individual | SDE the lender will treat as cash | Tax returns and machine liens |
| ESOP trustee | Feasibility cash after capex | Census and independent appraisal |
ISM’s August 2026 PMI of 54.6 and Prices Index of 71.1 describe climate, not a turn (Source: ISM). Fed G.17 July 2026 utilization of 76.0% is the same kind of fact (Source: Fed G.17). Use them in a CIM climate sentence. Do not add a tenth of a turn because a PMI print was expansionary.
Pick the buyer class after you pick the size band and the process. Then run more than one class when the file can support it.
Why a GF Data print cannot sit on an SDE row
Larger-EV sponsor averages live on a different earnings base than BizBuySell’s 2.75x SDE manufacturing median (Source: BizBuySell / Iconic). Put that sponsor row next to a PE add-on that already has reportable EBITDA. Do not put it next to an owner-estimator shop whose first number is SDE after a replacement wage.