Watsco (WSO) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger received 213 more outperform votes than Watsco when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 55.30% 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 547 53.37%	Underperform Votes 478 46.63%
Watsco	Outperform Votes 334 55.30%	Underperform Votes 270 44.70%

Which has more risk and volatility, GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.2, indicating that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Watsco has a beta of 1, indicating that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Which has better 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	2.81	$1.91B	$38.71	25.84
Watsco	$7.62B	2.74	$536.34M	$13.25	38.96

Do analysts recommend GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger currently has a consensus target price of $1,130.89, indicating a potential upside of 13.06%. Watsco has a consensus target price of $492.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.69%. Given W.W. Grainger's higher probable 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	2 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.21
Watsco	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.29

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 $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. W.W. Grainger pays out 21.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Watsco pays out 90.6% 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 13 consecutive years.

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in GWW or WSO?

80.7% of W.W. Grainger shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Watsco shares are held by institutional investors. 6.1% of W.W. Grainger shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.9% of Watsco shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

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%	17.59%	12.09%

Does the media refer more to GWW or WSO?

In the previous week, W.W. Grainger had 2 more articles in the media than Watsco. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for W.W. Grainger and 28 mentions for Watsco. Watsco's average media sentiment score of 1.30 beat W.W. Grainger's score of 1.28 indicating that Watsco is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
W.W. Grainger	24 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Watsco	17 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

W.W. Grainger beats Watsco on 15 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.