Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO) risk factors, FY2024 10-K

Lincoln Electric Holdings's FY2024 10-K, filed Feb 26, 2025, lists 18 risk factors in 5 groups. There is no earlier 10-K to compare against, so the most company-specific risks are listed below.

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Risk factors listed
185 groups
Section length
5k wordsItem 1A

Lincoln Electric Holdings's biggest risks in the FY2024 10-K

  • Lincoln Electric faces heavy exposure to cyclical arc welding markets and global manufacturing capital spending.
  • Operations rely heavily on raw material costs like steel, copper, and energy.
  • The company carries significant asbestos litigation exposure and international manufacturing risks.

The risks most specific to Lincoln Electric Holdings

  • Risks Related to Economic Conditions

    The cyclical nature and maturity of the arc welding and cutting industry in developed markets may adversely affect our performance

    Demand for our arc welding and cutting products depends heavily on capital spending in mature cyclical industries like North American and Western European manufacturing.

  • Risks Related to Manufacturing and Operations

    Availability of and volatility in energy costs or raw material prices may adversely affect our business

    Our manufacturing margins are vulnerable to price volatility and availability constraints in essential raw materials and commodities like steel, brass, copper, and electricity.

  • Risks Related to Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Matters

    We are a co-defendant in litigation alleging asbestos induced illness. Liabilities relating to such litigation could reduce our profitability and impair our financial condition

    We remain a co-defendant in active litigation involving approximately 1,300 plaintiffs alleging asbestos-induced illness.

  • Risks Related to Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Matters

    cases, we design automated welding systems for use in a customer’s production facilities (including automotive production facilities), which could expose us to financial losses or professional liability

    Designing automated welding systems for automotive and other production facilities exposes us to potential financial losses and professional liability from defects or contract terminations.

  • Risks Related to Manufacturing and Operations

    We may be incorporating artificial intelligence technologies into our products, services and processes. These technologies may present business, compliance and reputational risks

    Incorporating generative artificial intelligence into our products and internal processes introduces regulatory scrutiny, compliance issues, and ethical risks.

  • Risks Related to Business Strategy

    We may not be able to complete our acquisition or divestiture strategies, successfully integrate acquired businesses and, in certain cases, we may be required to retain liabilities for certain matters

    We may fail to successfully complete acquisitions or integrate acquired businesses, and could retain unexpected liabilities.

  • Risks Related to Business Strategy

    We may incur additional restructuring charges as we continue to contemplate rationalization actions in an effort to optimize our cost structure, and, as a result, we may not achieve the anticipated savings and benefits of these actions

    Restructuring actions to optimize our cost structure may incur asset impairments and severance costs without delivering anticipated savings.

  • Risks Related to Economic Conditions

    We conduct our sales and distribution operations on a worldwide basis and maintain manufacturing facilities in a number of foreign countries, which subjects us to risks associated with doing business outside the United States

    Maintaining widespread international manufacturing and sales exposes us to foreign economic performance, currency fluctuations, and trade barriers.

All 18 risk factors

Headings as the filing states them, in filing order.

Risks Related to Economic Conditions

  1. 01General economic, financial and market conditions may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and access to capital markets
  2. 02We conduct our sales and distribution operations on a worldwide basis and maintain manufacturing facilities in a number of foreign countries, which subjects us to risks associated with doing business outside the United States
  3. 03The cyclical nature and maturity of the arc welding and cutting industry in developed markets may adversely affect our performance

Risks Related to Manufacturing and Operations

  1. 04Economic and supply disruptions associated with events beyond our control, such as war, acts of terror, political unrest, pandemics, labor disputes and natural disasters could adversely affect our supply chain and distribution channels or result in loss of sales and customers
  2. 05Availability of and volatility in energy costs or raw material prices may adversely affect our business
  3. 06We are subject to risks relating to our information systems and data
  4. 07We may be incorporating artificial intelligence technologies into our products, services and processes. These technologies may present business, compliance and reputational risks

Risks Related to Human Capital

  1. 08Our operations depend on maintaining a skilled workforce, and any interruption in our workforce could negatively impact our results of operations and financial condition

Risks Related to Business Strategy

  1. 09We may not be able to complete our acquisition or divestiture strategies, successfully integrate acquired businesses and, in certain cases, we may be required to retain liabilities for certain matters
  2. 10The competitive pressures we face could harm our revenue, results of operations and prospects
  3. 11We may incur additional restructuring charges as we continue to contemplate rationalization actions in an effort to optimize our cost structure, and, as a result, we may not achieve the anticipated savings and benefits of these actions

Risks Related to Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Matters

  1. 12We are a co-defendant in litigation alleging asbestos induced illness. Liabilities relating to such litigation could reduce our profitability and impair our financial condition
  2. 13We may incur material losses and costs as a result of product liability claims that may be brought against us or failure to meet contractual performance commitments
  3. 14cases, we design automated welding systems for use in a customer’s production facilities (including automotive production facilities), which could expose us to financial losses or professional liability
  4. 15Changes in tax rates or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations
  5. 16Evolving international laws and enforcement relating to data privacy could adversely affect our operations
  6. 17Our global operations are subject to increasingly complex environmental regulatory requirements
  7. 18We may be exposed to certain regulatory and financial risks related to climate change

Other Lincoln Electric Holdings 10-Ks

  • FY2025 10-K risk factors
    18 risks1 new1 dropped5 reworded

    Lincoln Electric added U.S. government contract compliance risks while sharpening focus on competitive AI-enabled robotics and global tax changes.

    Filed Feb 25, 2026

About this page

The headings are the filing's own. The one-line readings and the overview are automated and can be wrong: read Item 1A of the 10-K for the exact wording.