Head to Head Review: GFL Environmental (NYSE:GFL) versus Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS)

GFL Environmental (NYSE:GFL) and Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS) are both business services companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

64.7% of GFL Environmental shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.3% of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor shares are held by institutional investors. 8.7% of GFL Environmental shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.6% of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

GFL Environmental pays an annual dividend of $0.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. GFL Environmental pays out 0.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor pays out 39.3% 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. GFL Environmental has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has increased its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for GFL Environmental and Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GFL Environmental	0	1	11	2	3.07
Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor	0	4	3	0	2.43

GFL Environmental currently has a consensus price target of $57.97, suggesting a potential upside of 32.42%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has a consensus price target of $42.83, suggesting a potential downside of 9.75%. Given GFL Environmental’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe GFL Environmental is more favorable than Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor.

Risk & Volatility

GFL Environmental has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its share price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares GFL Environmental and Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GFL Environmental	$5.62 billion	2.83	-$527.43 million	$6.38	6.86
Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor	$1.66 billion	4.79	$160.20 million	$1.12	42.38

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has lower revenue, but higher earnings than GFL Environmental. GFL Environmental is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares GFL Environmental and Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GFL Environmental	50.99%	3.06%	1.21%
Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor	11.59%	16.26%	9.66%

Summary

GFL Environmental beats Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GFL Environmental

GFL Environmental Inc. offers non-hazardous solid waste management and environmental services in Canada and the United States. It offers solid waste management, liquid waste management, and soil remediation services, including collection, transportation, transfer, recycling, and disposal services for municipal, residential, and commercial, and industrial customers. The company was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Vaughan, Canada.

About Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation engages in design, procurement, manufacture, and marketing of water management solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers water safety and control products, such as backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, PEX pipings, fittings, and installation tools under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names. The company also provides flow systems products comprising point drains, hydrants, fixture carrier systems, chemical drainage systems; and interceptors and separators, acid neutralization systems, and remote monitoring systems under the Zurn and Green Turtle brands. In addition, it develops, manufactures, and markets remote tank monitoring devices, alarms, software, and services. Further, the company offers sensor-operated flush valves under the AquaSense, Aquaflush, and AquaVantage brands; heavy-duty commercial faucets under the AquaSpec brand; water conserving fixtures under the EcoVantage and Zurn One brands; stainless steel products under the Just Manufacturing brand name, which include stainless steel sinks and plumbing fixtures, and various types of sinks, as well as drinking water dispensing and filtration products under the Elkay and Halsey Taylor brands. It distributes to institutional, commercial, waterworks, and residential end markets through independent sales representatives, plumbing wholesalers, and industry-specific distributors in the waterworks, foodservice, industrial, janitorial, sanitation, and sitework industries. The company was formerly known as Zurn Water Solutions Corporation and changed its name to Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation in July 2022. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation was incorporated in 1892 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.