Itron (ITRI) Competitors

Itron (NASDAQ:ITRI) and Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) are both mid-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, risk, community ranking and media sentiment.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ITRI or MWA?

Itron received 135 more outperform votes than Mueller Water Products when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 66.57% of users gave Mueller Water Products an outperform vote while only 64.71% of users gave Itron an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Itron	Outperform Votes 583 64.71%	Underperform Votes 318 35.29%
Mueller Water Products	Outperform Votes 448 66.57%	Underperform Votes 225 33.43%

Do analysts rate ITRI or MWA?

Itron presently has a consensus price target of $123.92, indicating a potential upside of 8.59%. Mueller Water Products has a consensus price target of $22.20, indicating a potential downside of 10.54%. Given Itron's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Itron is more favorable than Mueller Water Products.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Itron	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69
Mueller Water Products	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.17

Does the media prefer ITRI or MWA?

In the previous week, Mueller Water Products had 5 more articles in the media than Itron. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Mueller Water Products and 6 mentions for Itron. Itron's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat Mueller Water Products' score of 1.38 indicating that Itron is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Itron	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Mueller Water Products	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in ITRI or MWA?

96.2% of Itron shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.7% of Mueller Water Products shares are held by institutional investors. 1.5% of Itron shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Mueller Water Products shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, ITRI or MWA?

Itron has a beta of 1.46, indicating that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mueller Water Products has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, ITRI or MWA?

Mueller Water Products has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Itron. Itron is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mueller Water Products, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Itron	$2.17B	2.37	$96.92M	$4.88	23.38
Mueller Water Products	$1.31B	2.94	$115.90M	$0.73	33.99

Is ITRI or MWA more profitable?

Itron has a net margin of 9.37% compared to Mueller Water Products' net margin of 8.82%. Mueller Water Products' return on equity of 19.71% beat Itron's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Itron	9.37%	19.03%	8.53%
Mueller Water Products	8.82%	19.71%	9.68%

Summary

Itron beats Mueller Water Products on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.