Analyzing Mueller Industries (NYSE:MLI) and Savaria (OTCMKTS:SISXF)

Savaria (OTCMKTS:SISXF) and Mueller Industries (NYSE:MLI) are both industrials companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, earnings, dividends and risk.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Savaria and Mueller Industries”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Savaria	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0.22	98.66
Mueller Industries	$4.66 billion	3.27	$765.19 million	$3.84	17.94

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

Profitability

This table compares Savaria and Mueller Industries’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Savaria	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mueller Industries	18.25%	25.68%	21.80%

Dividends

Savaria pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Mueller Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.70 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Savaria pays out 56.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Mueller Industries pays out 18.2% 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. Mueller Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

6.6% of Savaria shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.5% of Mueller Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.3% of Mueller Industries shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Savaria and Mueller Industries, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Savaria	0	0	3	0	3.00
Mueller Industries	0	0	2	0	3.00

Mueller Industries has a consensus price target of $75.00, indicating a potential upside of 8.88%. Given Mueller Industries’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Mueller Industries is more favorable than Savaria.

Summary

Mueller Industries beats Savaria on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Savaria

Savaria Corporation provides accessibility solutions for the elderly and physically challenged people in Canada, the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Accessibility and Patient Care. The Accessibility segment designs, manufactures, distributes, and installs a portfolio of accessibility products, including commercial and home elevators, stairlifts, platform lifts, and wheelchair lowered-floor accessible conversions for selected brands of minivans, personal, residential, or commercial applications. The Patient Care segment designs, manufactures, distributes, and installs ceiling lifts, patient transfer slings and accessories, floor lifts, standing aids, bathing equipment, medical beds, therapeutic support surfaces, and pressure management products used in healthcare facilities and home care settings. It sells its products through dealers or direct stores to end-user customers. The company was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Laval, Canada.

About Mueller Industries

Mueller Industries, Inc. manufactures and sells copper, brass, aluminum, and plastic products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, the Middle East, China, and Mexico. It operates through three segments: Piping Systems, Industrial Metals, and Climate. The Piping Systems segment offers copper tubes, fittings, line sets, and pipe nipples. It also resells steel pipes, brass and plastic plumbing valves, malleable iron fittings and faucets, and plumbing specialties; and supplies water tubes. This segment sells its products to wholesalers in the plumbing and refrigeration markets, distributors to the manufactured housing and recreational vehicle industries, building material retailers, and air-conditioning original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The Industrial Metals segment manufactures brass, bronze, and copper alloy rods; plumbing brass, valves, fittings, and gas assemblies; cold-form aluminum and copper products; machining of aluminum, steel, brass, and cast iron impacts and castings; brass and aluminum forgings; brass, aluminum, and stainless-steel valves; fluid control solutions; and gas train assembles to OEMs in the industrial, construction, HVAC, plumbing, and refrigeration markets. The Climate segment offers valves, protection devices, and brass fittings for various OEMs in the commercial HVAC and refrigeration markets; high-pressure components and accessories for the air-conditioning and refrigeration markets; coaxial heat exchangers and twisted tubes for the HVAC, geothermal, refrigeration, swimming pool heat pump, marine, ice machine, commercial boiler, and heat reclamation markets; and insulated HVAC flexible duct systems. Mueller Industries, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Collierville, Tennessee.