Kawasaki Heavy Industries (OTCMKTS:KWHIY) and Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA) Critical Survey

Kawasaki Heavy Industries (OTCMKTS:KWHIY – Get Free Report) and Mueller Water Products (NYSE:MWA – Get Free Report) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mueller Water Products, as provided by MarketBeat.

Mueller Water Products has a consensus target price of $28.40, suggesting a potential upside of 32.68%. Given Mueller Water Products’ higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Mueller Water Products is more favorable than Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

Profitability

This table compares Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mueller Water Products’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Dividends

Kawasaki Heavy Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Mueller Water Products pays an annual dividend of $0.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Kawasaki Heavy Industries pays out 23.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mueller Water Products pays out 19.9% 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. Mueller Water Products has increased its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Mueller Water Products is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility and Risk

Kawasaki Heavy Industries has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its share price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Mueller Water Products has a beta of 1.01, meaning that its share price is 1% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mueller Water Products”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.7% of Mueller Water Products shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of Mueller Water Products shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Mueller Water Products beats Kawasaki Heavy Industries on 13 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Kawasaki Heavy Industries

(Get Free Report)

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. engages in aerospace systems, energy solution and marine engineering, precision machinery and robot, rolling stock, and motorcycle and engine businesses in Japan and internationally. It manufactures aircraft for the Japan ministry of defense; helicopters; and helicopter and jet engines for commercial aircrafts. The company also manufactures railway cars; a range of rolling stocks, including Shinkansen, electric cars, passenger coaches, freight cars, locomotives, diesel locomotives, and transit systems. In addition, it engages in the production and sale of energy-related machinery and systems, marine machinery and systems, industrial equipment, and environmental equipment. Further, the company manufactures and supplies motorcycles, off-road four wheelers, watercrafts, general-purpose gasoline engines, etc. Additionally, it manufactures and sells pumps, motors, valves, and various hydraulic machinery, as well as assembles hydraulic systems; and industrial robots for use in welding, assembly, handling, painting, and palletization for various industries, including automotive and electronics industries. The company was founded in 1878 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Mueller Water Products

(Get Free Report)

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.