Comparing Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) and Kornit Digital (NASDAQ:KRNT)

Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) and Kornit Digital (NASDAQ:KRNT) are both industrials companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

Mueller Water Products has a beta of 1.01, indicating that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kornit Digital has a beta of 1.85, indicating that its share price is 85% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Mueller Water Products and Kornit Digital’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mueller Water Products	15.02%	23.55%	13.12%
Kornit Digital	-9.42%	-1.00%	-0.91%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Mueller Water Products and Kornit Digital”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mueller Water Products	$1.43 billion	2.38	$191.70 million	$1.41	15.47
Kornit Digital	$215.85 million	3.63	-$13.52 million	($0.48)	-37.98

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Mueller Water Products and Kornit Digital, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mueller Water Products	2	1	2	0	2.00
Kornit Digital	1	3	2	0	2.17

Mueller Water Products presently has a consensus target price of $28.40, suggesting a potential upside of 30.22%. Kornit Digital has a consensus target price of $21.50, suggesting a potential upside of 17.94%. Given Mueller Water Products’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Mueller Water Products is more favorable than Kornit Digital.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.7% of Mueller Water Products shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.8% of Kornit Digital shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Mueller Water Products shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Kornit Digital shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Mueller Water Products beats Kornit Digital on 9 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Mueller Water Products

Mueller Water Products, Inc. manufactures and markets products and services for the transmission, distribution, and measurement of water used by municipalities, and the residential and non-residential construction industries in the United States, Israel, and internationally. It operates in two segments, Water Flow Solutions and Water Management Solutions. The Water Flow Solutions segment provides valves for water systems, such as iron gate, butterfly, tapping, check, knife, plug, and ball valves, which are used to control distribution and transmission of potable water and non-potable water, as well as in water transmission or distribution, water treatment facilities, or industrial applications. It also offers service brass products. The Water Management Solutions segment offers dry-barrel and wet-barrel fire hydrants for water infrastructure development; fire protection systems, and water infrastructure repair and replacement projects; pipe repair products, such as couplings, grips, and clamps used to repair leaks; residential, fire line, and commercial water metering products, systems, and services; water leak detection and pipe condition assessment products and services; machines and tools for tapping, drilling, extracting, installing, and stopping-off; gas valve products for use in gas distribution systems; and intelligent water solutions, including pressure control valves, advanced pressure management, network analytics, event management, and date logging. It sells its products under the Canada Valve, Centurion, Ez-Max, Hydro Gate, Hydro-Guard, HYMAX, HYMAX VERSA, Jones, Krausz, Milliken, Mueller, Pratt, Pratt Industrial, Repamax, Repaflex, Singer, Echologics, Echoshore, ePulse, Hersey, LeakFinderRT, LeakFinderST, LeakListener, LeakTuner, Mi.Echo, Mi.Net, Mueller Systems, Sentryx, and U.S. Pipe Valve and Hydrant brands. Mueller Water Products, Inc. was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Kornit Digital

Kornit Digital Ltd. develops, designs, and markets digital printing solutions for the fashion, apparel, and home decor segments of printed textile industry in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. Its solutions include digital printing systems, ink and other consumables, associated software, and value-added services. The company's products and services include direct-to-garment printing platform for smaller industrial operators to mass producers; NeoPigment ink and other consumables; QuickP designer software; and system upgrade kits, maintenance and support, consulting, and professional services. It serves decorators, online businesses, brand owners, and contract printers. Kornit Digital Ltd. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Rosh Haayin, Israel.