Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. NDSN scored 52.3, WTS scored 69.6 — WTS leads.
Compare another set
NDSN
Nordson Corporation
Specialty Industrial Machinery · Quality-Growth
52.3
$328.17 · $18.3B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
17.3
WTS leads
WTS
Watts Water Technologies, Inc.
Specialty Industrial Machinery · Quality-Growth
69.6
$352.72 · $11.8B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestWTS30.8x
Fastest growthWTS+17.1%
Strongest balance sheetWTS0.10
Highest qualityWTS81 / 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)
NDSN
stronger →← stronger
WTS
78
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
81
67
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
85
27
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
49
WTS is stronger on 3 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
NDSN
WTS
$724mC+
FCF
$349mC
+7.0%B
Rev
+17.1%B+
0.56B
D/E
0.10A
33.2xC+
P/E
30.8xC+
1.86C+
PEG
3.08D
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
NDSN
WTS
57% above
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
119% above
~17%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~28%/yr
-39%
1-yr DCF upside
-58%
-36%
5-yr DCF upside
-54%
-33%
10-yr DCF upside
-49%
These two disagree on this pair: the Value pillar ranks cheapness against sector peers, while price-vs-fair-value is an absolute read. A name can be the better value in its sector and still the dearer one on cash flows.
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Specialty Industrial Machinery · market cap $18.3b. 3% off the 52-week high of $339.12. 7 sell-side analysts publish a mean 1-yr target of $349.71 (implying +7% upside).
Moat
Net margin 19% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 17% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. FCF converts 130% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash.
Risk
Trailing P/E 33x sits well above the S&P median (~20x) — multiple compression is a real risk if revenue growth decelerates.
Specialty Industrial Machinery · market cap $11.8b. 11% off the 52-week high of $394.54. Revenue growing +17%, comfortably above the S&P median. 7 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $404.00 (implying +15% upside).
Moat
Net margin 14% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 18% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately.
Risk
Trailing P/E 31x sits well above the S&P median (~20x) — multiple compression is a real risk if revenue growth decelerates.
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 NDSN and WTS diverge
On the headline score the gap is 17.3 points in favor of WTS. The widest single difference is Value, where WTS leads by 21.9 points.
ValueNDSN 27.3 · WTS 49.2WTS +21.9
GrowthNDSN 66.8 · WTS 84.7WTS +17.9
QualityNDSN 78.1 · WTS 80.7level
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 WTS or NDSN the better stock?
WTS scores higher: WTS 69.6, NDSN 52.3 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 WTS and NDSN differ most?
The widest gap is value, where WTS leads by 22 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. WTS also leads growth, while quality is effectively level between them.
How are WTS and NDSN 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.