Mueller Industries (NYSE:MLI) vs. Mayville Engineering (NYSE:MEC) Head to Head Survey

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Mueller Industries and Mayville Engineering, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mueller Industries	0	0	2	0	3.00
Mayville Engineering	1	1	4	0	2.50

Mueller Industries currently has a consensus price target of $75.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.35%. Mayville Engineering has a consensus price target of $35.75, indicating a potential upside of 50.42%. Given Mayville Engineering’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Mayville Engineering is more favorable than Mueller Industries.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

94.5% of Mueller Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.4% of Mayville Engineering shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Mueller Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.6% of Mayville Engineering shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Mueller Industries has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mayville Engineering has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Mueller Industries and Mayville Engineering”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mueller Industries	$4.18 billion	3.53	$765.19 million	$3.84	17.38
Mayville Engineering	$546.49 million	1.11	-$8.11 million	($0.84)	-28.29

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

Profitability

This table compares Mueller Industries and Mayville Engineering’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mueller Industries	18.25%	25.68%	21.80%
Mayville Engineering	-2.95%	-6.63%	-2.99%

Summary

Mueller Industries beats Mayville Engineering on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Mayville Engineering

Mayville Engineering Company, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production, design, prototyping and tooling, fabrication, aluminum extrusion, coating, and assembling of aftermarket components in the United States. It also supplies engineered components to original equipment manufacturers. The company serves heavy and medium duty commercial vehicles, construction and access equipment, powersports, agriculture, military, and other end markets. Mayville Engineering Company, Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.