Watsco (WSO) Competitors

W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) and Watsco (NYSE:WSO) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking and risk.

Is GWW or WSO more profitable?

W.W. Grainger has a net margin of 11.12% compared to Watsco's net margin of 7.04%. W.W. Grainger's return on equity of 52.43% beat Watsco's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
W.W. Grainger	11.12%	52.43%	22.15%
Watsco	7.04%	17.59%	12.09%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger received 212 more outperform votes than Watsco when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 55.01% of users gave Watsco an outperform vote while only 53.31% of users gave W.W. Grainger an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
W.W. Grainger	Outperform Votes 547 53.31%	Underperform Votes 479 46.69%
Watsco	Outperform Votes 335 55.01%	Underperform Votes 274 44.99%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of GWW or WSO?

80.7% of W.W. Grainger shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Watsco shares are held by institutional investors. 6.1% of W.W. Grainger shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.8% of Watsco shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger presently has a consensus price target of $1,120.00, suggesting a potential upside of 2.98%. Watsco has a consensus price target of $480.83, suggesting a potential upside of 2.82%. Given W.W. Grainger's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe W.W. Grainger is more favorable than Watsco.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
W.W. Grainger	2 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.15
Watsco	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.14

Does the media favor GWW or WSO?

In the previous week, W.W. Grainger had 7 more articles in the media than Watsco. MarketBeat recorded 32 mentions for W.W. Grainger and 25 mentions for Watsco. W.W. Grainger's average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat Watsco's score of 0.84 indicating that W.W. Grainger is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
W.W. Grainger	25 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Watsco	13 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Watsco has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, GWW or WSO?

W.W. Grainger has higher revenue and earnings than Watsco. W.W. Grainger is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Watsco, 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
W.W. Grainger	$17.24B	3.03	$1.91B	$38.95	27.92
Watsco	$7.58B	2.49	$536.34M	$13.01	35.94

Is GWW or WSO a better dividend stock?

W.W. Grainger pays an annual dividend of $9.04 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Watsco pays an annual dividend of $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. W.W. Grainger pays out 23.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Watsco pays out 92.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. W.W. Grainger has increased its dividend for 55 consecutive years and Watsco has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years.

Summary

W.W. Grainger beats Watsco on 17 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.