Mueller Industries (MLI) Competitors

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

Is MLI or FELE a better dividend stock?

Mueller Industries pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Franklin Electric pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Mueller Industries pays out 15.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Franklin Electric pays out 27.4% 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 Industries has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Franklin Electric has raised its dividend for 33 consecutive years. Franklin Electric is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, MLI or FELE?

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

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Mueller Industries	$3.77B	2.75	$604.88M	$6.30	14.87
Franklin Electric	$2.02B	2.18	$180.31M	$3.87	25.59

Do analysts rate MLI or FELE?

Mueller Industries presently has a consensus target price of $105.00, suggesting a potential upside of 12.10%. Franklin Electric has a consensus target price of $107.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.05%. Given Mueller Industries' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Mueller Industries is more favorable than Franklin Electric.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Mueller Industries	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Franklin Electric	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media refer more to MLI or FELE?

In the previous week, Mueller Industries had 2 more articles in the media than Franklin Electric. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Mueller Industries and 3 mentions for Franklin Electric. Franklin Electric's average media sentiment score of 1.59 beat Mueller Industries' score of 1.40 indicating that Franklin Electric is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Mueller Industries	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Franklin Electric	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, MLI or FELE?

Mueller Industries has a beta of 1.02, suggesting that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Franklin Electric has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is MLI or FELE more profitable?

Mueller Industries has a net margin of 17.48% compared to Franklin Electric's net margin of 8.71%. Mueller Industries' return on equity of 24.47% beat Franklin Electric's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Mueller Industries	17.48%	24.47%	20.63%
Franklin Electric	8.71%	14.05%	9.47%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of MLI or FELE?

94.5% of Mueller Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.0% of Franklin Electric shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Mueller Industries shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of Franklin Electric 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 Industries beats Franklin Electric on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.