Watsco (WSO) Competitors

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) and Watsco (NYSE:WSO) are both large-cap industrial products companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, community ranking, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment and risk.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger received 212 more outperform votes than Watsco when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 55.48% of users gave Watsco an outperform vote while only 53.37% of users gave W.W. Grainger an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
W.W. Grainger	Outperform Votes 546 53.37%	Underperform Votes 477 46.63%
Watsco	Outperform Votes 334 55.48%	Underperform Votes 268 44.52%

Is GWW or WSO more profitable?

W.W. Grainger has a net margin of 11.12% compared to Watsco's net margin of 7.04%. W.W. Grainger's return on equity of 52.43% beat Watsco's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W.W. Grainger	11.12%	52.43%	22.15%
Watsco	7.04%	17.61%	12.12%

Do analysts rate GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger presently has a consensus price target of $1,148.56, indicating a potential upside of 12.16%. Watsco has a consensus price target of $495.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.98%. Given W.W. Grainger's higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe W.W. Grainger is more favorable than Watsco.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W.W. Grainger	1 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.23
Watsco	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Is GWW or WSO a better dividend stock?

W.W. Grainger pays an annual dividend of $8.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Watsco pays an annual dividend of $10.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. W.W. Grainger pays out 21.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Watsco pays out 81.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. W.W. Grainger has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years and Watsco has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years.

Do insiders and institutionals believe in GWW or WSO?

80.7% of W.W. Grainger shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Watsco shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.5% of W.W. Grainger shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of Watsco shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media prefer GWW or WSO?

In the previous week, Watsco had 8 more articles in the media than W.W. Grainger. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for Watsco and 25 mentions for W.W. Grainger. W.W. Grainger's average media sentiment score of 1.40 beat Watsco's score of 1.19 indicating that W.W. Grainger is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
W.W. Grainger	20 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Watsco	19 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Watsco has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger has higher revenue and earnings than Watsco. W.W. Grainger is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Watsco, 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
W.W. Grainger	$17.17B	2.90	$1.91B	$38.71	26.45
Watsco	$7.62B	2.73	$536.34M	$13.25	38.91

Summary

W.W. Grainger beats Watsco on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.