Pentair (NYSE:PNR) and Mueller Industries (NYSE:MLI) Head-To-Head Review

Pentair (NYSE:PNR) and Mueller Industries (NYSE:MLI) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Pentair and Mueller Industries”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pentair	$4.18 billion	2.05	$653.80 million	$3.98	13.48
Mueller Industries	$4.18 billion	3.20	$765.19 million	$3.84	15.75

Mueller Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Pentair. Pentair is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Mueller Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Pentair has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mueller Industries has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Pentair pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Mueller Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Pentair pays out 27.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mueller Industries pays out 18.2% 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. Pentair has increased its dividend for 7 consecutive years and Mueller Industries has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Pentair is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Pentair and Mueller Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pentair	16.24%	20.62%	11.44%
Mueller Industries	18.25%	25.68%	21.80%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Pentair and Mueller Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pentair	4	5	9	0	2.28
Mueller Industries	0	0	2	0	3.00

Pentair presently has a consensus price target of $87.19, indicating a potential upside of 62.47%. Mueller Industries has a consensus price target of $75.00, indicating a potential upside of 23.99%. Given Pentair’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Pentair is more favorable than Mueller Industries.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

92.4% of Pentair shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.5% of Mueller Industries shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Pentair shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.3% of Mueller Industries shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Mueller Industries beats Pentair on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pentair

Pentair plc provides various water solutions in the United States, Western Europe, China, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, Canada, and Japan. The company operates through three segments: Flow, Water Solutions, and Pool. The Flow segment designs, manufactures, and sells fluid treatment and pump products and systems, including pressure vessels, gas recovery solutions, membrane bioreactors, wastewater reuse systems and advanced membrane filtration, separation systems, water disposal pumps, water supply pumps, fluid transfer pumps, turbine pumps, solid handling pumps, and agricultural spray nozzles for fluid delivery, ion exchange, desalination, food and beverage, separation technologies in the oil and gas industry, residential and municipal wells, water treatment, wastewater solids handling, pressure boosting, circulation and transfer, fire suppression, flood control, agricultural irrigation, and crop spray in residential, commercial, and industrial markets. The Water Solutions segment provides commercial and residential water treatment products and systems, including pressure tanks, control valves, activated carbon products, commercial ice machines, conventional filtration products, and point-of-entry and point-of-use water treatment systems, as well as installation and preventative services for use in residential whole home water filtration, drinking water filtration, and water softening solutions, as well as commercial total water management and filtration in foodservice operations. The Pool segment provides residential and commercial pool equipment and accessories comprising pumps, filters, heaters, lights, automatic controls, automatic cleaners, maintenance equipment, and pool accessories for applications in residential and commercial pool maintenance, pool repair, renovation, service, and construction and aquaculture solutions. Pentair plc was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

About Mueller Industries

Mueller Industries, Inc. manufactures and sells copper, brass, aluminum, and plastic products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, the Middle East, China, and Mexico. It operates through three segments: Piping Systems, Industrial Metals, and Climate. The Piping Systems segment offers copper tubes, fittings, line sets, and pipe nipples. It also resells steel pipes, brass and plastic plumbing valves, malleable iron fittings and faucets, and plumbing specialties; and supplies water tubes. This segment sells its products to wholesalers in the plumbing and refrigeration markets, distributors to the manufactured housing and recreational vehicle industries, building material retailers, and air-conditioning original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The Industrial Metals segment manufactures brass, bronze, and copper alloy rods; plumbing brass, valves, fittings, and gas assemblies; cold-form aluminum and copper products; machining of aluminum, steel, brass, and cast iron impacts and castings; brass and aluminum forgings; brass, aluminum, and stainless-steel valves; fluid control solutions; and gas train assembles to OEMs in the industrial, construction, HVAC, plumbing, and refrigeration markets. The Climate segment offers valves, protection devices, and brass fittings for various OEMs in the commercial HVAC and refrigeration markets; high-pressure components and accessories for the air-conditioning and refrigeration markets; coaxial heat exchangers and twisted tubes for the HVAC, geothermal, refrigeration, swimming pool heat pump, marine, ice machine, commercial boiler, and heat reclamation markets; and insulated HVAC flexible duct systems. Mueller Industries, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Collierville, Tennessee.