Mueller Water Products (MWA) Competitors

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) and Graco (NYSE:GGG) are both industrial products companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MWA or GGG?

Mueller Water Products received 60 more outperform votes than Graco when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.57% of users gave Mueller Water Products an outperform vote while only 60.63% of users gave Graco an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Mueller Water Products	Outperform Votes 448 66.57%	Underperform Votes 225 33.43%
Graco	Outperform Votes 388 60.63%	Underperform Votes 252 39.38%

Is MWA or GGG a better dividend stock?

Mueller Water Products pays an annual dividend of $0.27 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Graco pays an annual dividend of $1.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Mueller Water Products pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Graco pays out 36.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Graco has raised its dividend for 28 consecutive years. Graco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is MWA or GGG more profitable?

Graco has a net margin of 22.87% compared to Mueller Water Products' net margin of 8.82%. Graco's return on equity of 21.24% beat Mueller Water Products' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mueller Water Products	8.82%	19.71%	9.68%
Graco	22.87%	21.24%	17.74%

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, MWA or GGG?

Graco has higher revenue and earnings than Mueller Water Products. Graco 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
Mueller Water Products	$1.31B	2.94	$115.90M	$0.73	33.99
Graco	$2.13B	7.01	$506.51M	$2.83	31.28

Which has more risk and volatility, MWA or GGG?

Mueller Water Products has a beta of 1.34, indicating that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Graco has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend MWA or GGG?

Mueller Water Products presently has a consensus price target of $22.20, indicating a potential downside of 10.54%. Graco has a consensus price target of $89.25, indicating a potential upside of 0.81%. Given Graco's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Graco is more favorable than Mueller Water Products.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mueller Water Products	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.17
Graco	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of MWA or GGG?

91.7% of Mueller Water Products shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.9% of Graco shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Mueller Water Products shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Graco shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media refer more to MWA or GGG?

In the previous week, Graco had 8 more articles in the media than Mueller Water Products. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for Graco and 11 mentions for Mueller Water Products. Mueller Water Products' average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat Graco's score of 0.42 indicating that Mueller Water Products is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
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
Graco	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Graco beats Mueller Water Products on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.