Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. MWA scored 68.2, MLI scored 77.1 — MLI leads.
Compare another set
MWA
Mueller Water Products, Inc.
Specialty Industrial Machinery · Quality-Growth
68.2
$21.67 · $3.4B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
8.9
MLI leads
MLI
Mueller Industries, Inc.
Metal Fabrication · Quality-Growth
77.1
$60.71 · $13.4B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestMWA15.2x
Fastest growthMLI+14.8%
Strongest balance sheetMLI0.01
Highest qualityMLI83 / 100
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
MWA
stronger →← stronger
MLI
75
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
83
62
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
84
68
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
66
MLI is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
MWA
MLI
$180mC
FCF
$666mC+
+5.9%C+
Rev
+14.8%B+
0.40B+
D/E
0.01A
15.2xA-
P/E
15.8xA-
0.91B+
PEG
3.41D
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
MWA
MLI
21% above
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
22% above
~10%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~13%/yr
-20%
1-yr DCF upside
-26%
-18%
5-yr DCF upside
-18%
-14%
10-yr DCF upside
-5%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Specialty Industrial Machinery · market cap $3.4b. Down 30% from 52-week high of $31.00 — deep drawdown territory. PEG 0.91 — paying under fair value for the growth rate. 6 sell-side analysts rate this a Hold with a mean 1-yr target of $28.67 (implying +32% upside).
Moat
Net margin 15% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 20% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately.
Risk
Down 30% from the 52-week high — the market is pricing in something the screen can't see; verify the bear case before sizing up.
MLIMueller Industries, Inc.
Metal Fabrication · $60.71 · beta 1.09
Why now
Metal Fabrication · market cap $13.4b. 15% off the 52-week high of $71.12. Revenue growing +15%, comfortably above the S&P median.
Moat
Net margin 18% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 24% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately.
Risk
Mature compounder — the risk is paying up for quality at a moment when growth is decelerating. Watch for sequential revenue + margin trends; the inflection from "compounder" to "ex-compounder" is hard to spot until the multiple already started compressing.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
Generating verdict… typically 5–10 seconds
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where MWA and MLI diverge
On the headline score the gap is 8.9 points in favor of MLI. The widest single difference is Growth, where MLI leads by 22.2 points.
GrowthMWA 61.9 · MLI 84.1MLI +22.2
QualityMWA 75.0 · MLI 82.8MLI +7.8
ValueMWA 68.4 · MLI 65.8level
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is MLI or MWA the better stock?
MLI scores higher: MLI 77.1, MWA 68.2 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do MLI and MWA differ most?
The widest gap is growth, where MLI leads by 22 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. MLI also leads quality, while value is effectively level between them.
How are MLI and MWA scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.