Belden Inc.'s stock plummeted 5.40% during intraday trading on Thursday following the company's announcement of a major acquisition and its first-quarter earnings report.

The industrial networking company reported better-than-expected first-quarter results, with revenue of $696 million beating estimates of $683.1 million and adjusted EPS of $1.77 surpassing the $1.70 consensus. However, investor focus shifted to Belden's definitive agreement to acquire RUCKUS Networks from Vistance Networks for approximately $1.85 billion in cash.

The acquisition will be financed through fully committed debt from J.P. Morgan, and Belden plans to temporarily pause share repurchases until its leverage falls closer to its long-term target. Management aims to reduce net leverage to about 2.9x by year-end 2027. While the deal is expected to be immediately accretive to adjusted EPS and expand adjusted EBITDA margins in the first full year following close, investors appeared concerned about the significant debt load and the pause in capital returns to shareholders.