Quality Investor

Mueller Water Products, Inc.

Rank #249Capital ReturnWatchlistCompare with other stocks

MWA · NYSE · Industrials

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (MWA) — Rank #249 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.26) · ROE 19.5% · Piotroski F-Score 7 / 9.

As-of 2026-10-30 · CIK 0001350593 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.

About

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, Canada, and internationally.

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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 protection, and commercial water metering products and systems; 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 Systems, Mueller, Pratt, Pratt Industrial, Repamax, Repaflex, Singer, Echologics, Echoshore, ePulse, Hersey, LeakFinderRT, Sentryx, and U.S. Pipe Valve and Hydrant brands. Mueller Water Products, Inc.

was founded in 1857 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Industry
Specialty Industrial Machinery
Sector
Industrials
State
DE
Filer Category
Large accelerated filer
Fiscal Year End
September 30

Company Snapshot

P/E and reverse DCF are the primary valuation lenses at this stage.

Market Cap

—

P/E (annual)

—

P/S (annual)

—

P/B

—

P/OCF (annual)

—

Shareholder Yield

—

Employees

3,500

Industry

Specialty Industrial Machinery

Exchange

NYSE

11/12

Flags passed

MWA passes 11/12 quality flags

1 caution to review

  • CAUTION
    Disclosure regression

    A previously-disclosed line item is no longer reported — worth checking the filing for why

  • PASS
    Gross margin holding
  • PASS
    Dilution within 2%
  • PASS
    FCF not negative from investment
  • PASS
    Revenue not declining
  • PASS
    Operating margin holding
  • PASS
    Free cash flow intact
  • PASS
    Passes safety gate
  • PASS
    Balance sheet stable
  • PASS
    No competitive retreat
  • PASS
    SBC not compressing margin
  • PASS
    No valuation convergence

Strengths Revenue growth accelerating · Operating leverage expanding · Sequential beat (rev + EPS)

A count of the 12 warning flags that could be evaluated. Unweighted: colour follows the worst flag.

Quality Profile

Profitability

1/1 pass
GP / assets
0.26
Return on equity
19.5%
Gross margin trend
PASS

Safety

1/1 pass
Balance-sheet safety
PASS
Debt / equity
0.74
Current ratio
4.64×
Net cash
$42.40M

Cash Flow

2/3 pass
Positive FCF
PASS
Cash-backed earnings
WARN
Accruals healthy
PASS
SBC / revenue
0.7%

Growth

2/2 pass
Revenue growth
8.7%
Piotroski F-Score
7 / 9
Share dilution
0.4%

FCF yield, shareholder yield, and buyback activity are the primary reads at this stage.

Profitability

Does it make money well?

No warning flags · GP/assets 0.26

Gross profitability (GP / assets)

0.26

Primary signal (Novy-Marx).

2nd of 5 SIC 3490 peers

Return on equity

19.5%

Gross margin

36.1%

4th of 5 SIC 3490 peers

Revenue growth (YoY)

8.7%

Gross margin improving

Margin trend vs prior year.

PASS

Operating Leverage

2022202320242025
Revenue vs COGS
Revenue vs OpEx
Op. Income vs Revenue

Growth

Revenue CAGR (3Y)

4.7%

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

8.2%

Earnings CAGR (3Y)

35.8%

FCF CAGR (3Y)

—

Cash Flow Health

Is the cash real?

No warning flags · FCF 10% below net income

Free cash flow

$172.00M

Operating cash flow minus capex.

Positive free cash flow

PASS

FCF vs net income

-10.3%

(FCF − net income) ÷ |net income|. Positive: cash above earnings. Negative: below.

FCF not below net income

Fails when free cash flow is below net income (yellow flag).

WARN

Accruals healthy

Cash-backed earnings.

PASS

SBC / revenue

0.7%

Stock-based comp intensity.

Balance Sheet Strength

Can it survive a storm?

No warning flags · net cash $42.40M, F-Score 7/9

Balance-sheet safety

Composite anti-fragile check.

PASS

Debt / equity

0.74

3rd of 5 SIC 3490 peers (best = lowest)

Current ratio

4.64×

1st of 5 SIC 3490 peers

Quick ratio

2.87×

Net cash

$42.40M

Cash & equivalents minus total debt.

Piotroski F-Score

7 / 9

Fundamental-strength score (0-9).

Valuation

Is the price reasonable?

No warning flags

Dividend safety

Composite score

4.8 / 5

Strong
Payout ratio
21.9%5/5 Strong
FCF coverage
4.11×5/5 Strong
Dividend growth streak
10 yr5/5 Strong
Balance-sheet health
D/E 0.74 · IC 13.03×4/5 Strong

Capital allocation quality

Composite score

4.0 / 5

Strong
Share count trend
0.4%2/5 Fair
Buyback timing
N/AN/A
Dividend growth consistency
10 yr5/5 Strong
Net debt trajectory(deleveraging)
14.9%5/5 Strong

Lifecycle Phase History

20202025
Value
Capital Return

Price History

MWA+49.8% · +8.4% CAGRSPY+82.9% · +12.8% CAGR