Sifting through countless of stocks in the Machinery industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Mueller Industries, Inc. or Xylem Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc.

Mueller Industries, Inc. manufactures and sells copper, brass, and aluminum products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Asia and the Middle East, 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; resells steel pipe, brass and plastic plumbing valves, malleable iron fittings, faucets, and plumbing specialties. 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 offers brass, bronze, and copper alloy rods; brass rod, bar, and shapes; cold-form aluminum and copper products; high-volume machining of aluminum, steel, brass, and cast-iron impacts and castings for automotive applications; brass and aluminum forgings; brass, aluminum, and stainless steel valves; fluid control solutions; and gas train assembles; specialty copper, copper alloy, and aluminum tube to OEMs in the industrial, construction, plumbing, refrigeration, utility, telecommunication, and electrical transmission and distribution markets, as well as heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) markets. The Climate segment provides valves, protection devices, and brass fittings; and coaxial heat exchangers and twisted tubes to wholesalers and OEMs in the HVAC and refrigeration markets. This segment also manufactures and distributes high-pressure components and accessories, as well as insulated HVAC flexible duct systems. Mueller Industries, Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Collierville, Tennessee.

Xylem Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and servicing of engineered products and solutions for utility, industrial, and residential and commercial building services settings worldwide. It operates through Water Infrastructure; Applied Water; Measurement and Control Solutions; and Water Solutions and Services segments. The company offers water, wastewater, and storm water pumps and controls and systems; filtration, disinfection, and biological treatment equipment under the Flygt, Ionpure, Leopold, Neptune Benson, Sanitare, Wallace & Tiernan, and Wedeco brands; and pumps, valves, heat exchangers, controls, and dispensing equipment used for water and focuses on the residential, commercial and industrial markets under the Rule, Bell & Gossett, Flojet, Goulds Water Technology, Jabsco, and Lowara brands. It also provides smart meters, network communication devices, data analytics, test instruments, controls, sensor devices, software and managed services, critical infrastructure services, cloud-based analytics, and remote monitoring and data management under the Ebro, Sensus, Sentec, Smith Blair, WTW, YSI, and Xylem Vue brands. In addition, the company offers preventative maintenance services, rapid response mobile services, digitally enabled/outsourced solutions, process and wastewater treatment systems, environmental remediation, odor and corrosion control, filtration, reverse osmosis, continuous deionization, and mobile dewatering equipment and rental services; and municipal services comprising odor and corrosion control services, as well as condition assessment and asset management, and pressure monitoring solutions under the Grindex, Mar Cor, and Godwin brands. Xylem Inc. was formerly known as ITT WCO, Inc. and changed its name to Xylem Inc. in July 2011. The company was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Washington, District Of Columbia.

Latest Machinery and Mueller Industries, Inc., Xylem Inc. Stock News

As of May 20, 2026, Mueller Industries, Inc. had a $14.8 billion market capitalization, compared to the Machinery median of $3.7 million. Mueller Industries, Inc.’s stock is up 15.9% in 2026, down 4.5% in the previous five trading days and up 70.8% in the past year.

Currently, Mueller Industries, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 17.6. Mueller Industries, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $4.4 billion with a 19.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 19.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $8.400 per share for the current fiscal year. Mueller Industries, Inc. currently has a 1.0% dividend yield.

As of May 20, 2026, Xylem Inc. had a $25.7 billion market cap, putting it in the 88th percentile of all stocks. Xylem Inc.’s stock is down 20.9% in 2026, down 1.6% in the previous five trading days and down 15.45% in the past year.

Currently, Xylem Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 26.9. Xylem Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $9.1 billion with a 10.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 2.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $5.530 per share for the current fiscal year. Xylem Inc. currently has a 1.6% dividend yield.

How We Compare Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

Learn more about A+ Investor here!

Sign Up to Receive a Free Special Report Showing How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Smarter Investment Decisions

Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Mueller Industries, Inc.	MLI	C
Xylem Inc.	XYL	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Mueller Industries, Inc. has a Value Score of 41, which is Average. Xylem Inc. has a Value Score of 30, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Mueller Industries, Inc. or Xylem Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Mueller Industries, Inc. or Xylem Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Mueller Industries, Inc.	MLI	A
Xylem Inc.	XYL	A

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Mueller Industries, Inc. has a Quality Score of 94, which is Very Strong. Xylem Inc. has a Quality Score of 88, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc. have a grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Mueller Industries, Inc.	MLI	A
Xylem Inc.	XYL	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Mueller Industries, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 85, which is Very Positive. Xylem Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 55, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Mueller Industries, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Mueller Industries, Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Xylem Inc.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Mueller Industries, Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc. Grades

In addition to Estimate Revisions, Quality and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Mueller Industries, Inc. or Xylem Inc. Stock?

Overall, Mueller Industries, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 41, Estimate Revisions Score of 85 and Quality Score of 94.

Xylem Inc. stock has a Value Score of 30, Estimate Revisions Score of 55 and Quality Score of 88.

Comparing Mueller Industries, Inc. and Xylem Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.