Which Is a Better Investment, Helios Technologies Inc or Watts Water Technologies Inc Stock?

By AAII Staff
June 03, 2026
Large versus logo comparing two stocks in the same industry
Featured Tickers:

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 Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies or 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 Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and Inc.

Watts Water Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, supplies products and solutions that manage and conserve the flow of fluids and energy into, through, and out of buildings in the commercial, industrial, and residential markets. The company offers residential and commercial flow control and protection products, including backflow preventers, water pressure regulators, temperature and pressure relief valves, thermostatic mixing valves, leak detection and protection products, commercial washroom solutions, hydration solutions, and emergency safety products and equipment for plumbing and hot water applications. It also provides heating, ventilation, and air conditioning and gas products comprising commercial, institutional, and industrial boilers; water heaters and heating solutions; hydronic and electric heating systems for under-floor radiant applications; custom heat and hot water solutions; hydronic pump groups for boiler manufacturers and alternative energy control packages; and flexible stainless-steel connectors for natural and liquid propane gas in commercial food service and residential applications. In addition, the company offers drainage and water re-use products, such as drainage products, engineered rainwater harvesting solutions for commercial, industrial, marine, and residential applications; connected roof drain systems; and water quality products, including point-of-use and point-of-entry, closed loop, cooling tower, and other water applications for commercial, marine, and residential applications. It sells its products to plumbing, heating, and mechanical wholesale distributors and dealers; original equipment manufacturers; specialty product distributors; and do-it-yourself and retail chains, as well as wholesalers and private label accounts in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1874 and is headquartered in North Andover, Massachusetts.

Helios Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides engineered motion control and electronic controls technology solutions in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through two segments; Hydraulics and Electronics. The Hydraulics segment designs and manufactures hydraulic motion control and fluid conveyance technology products, including cartridge valves, manifolds, and quick release couplings, as well as engineers complete hydraulic system solutions. This segment sells its products under the Sun Hydraulics, Faster, NEM, Taimi, Daman, and Schultes brands. The Electronics segment designs and manufactures customized electronic controls systems, displays, wire harnesses, and software solutions. This segment sells its products under Enovation Controls, Murphy, Zero Off, HCT, Balboa Water Group, i3PD and Cygnus Reach and Joyonway brands. It markets and sells hydraulic products and engineered solutions through value-added distributors, as well as directly to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs); and electronic products to OEMs, distributors, and system integrators. It serves construction, material handling, agriculture, industrial, mobile, energy, recreational vehicles, marine, aerospace, and health and wellness sectors. The company was formerly known as Sun Hydraulics Corporation and changed its name to Helios Technologies, Inc. in June 2019. Helios Technologies, Inc. was incorporated in 1970 and is headquartered in Sarasota, Florida.

Latest Machinery and Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies, Inc. Stock News

As of June 2, 2026, Watts Water Technologies, Inc. had a $10.4 billion market capitalization, compared to the Machinery median of $3.9 million. Watts Water Technologies, Inc.’s stock is up 13.2% in 2026, down 0.8% in the previous five trading days and up 28.15% in the past year.

Currently, Watts Water Technologies, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 28.4. Watts Water Technologies, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.6 billion with a 14.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 21.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $11.944 per share for the current fiscal year. Watts Water Technologies, Inc. currently has a 0.8% dividend yield.

As of June 2, 2026, Helios Technologies, Inc. had a $2.8 billion market cap, putting it in the 58th percentile of all stocks. Helios Technologies, Inc.’s stock is up 59.1% in 2026, up 3.2% in the previous five trading days and up 175.33% in the past year.

Currently, Helios Technologies, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 45.8. Helios Technologies, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $871.9 million with a 7.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 16.8%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.934 per share for the current fiscal year. Helios Technologies, Inc. currently has a 0.6% dividend yield.

How We Compare Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and 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 Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and 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

Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company Ticker Value
Watts Water Technologies, Inc. WTS D
Helios Technologies, Inc. HLIO 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.

Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a Value Score of 24, which is Expensive. Helios Technologies, Inc. has a Value Score of 31, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies or 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 Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and Inc. Growth Grades

Company Ticker Growth
Watts Water Technologies, Inc. WTS A
Helios Technologies, Inc. HLIO B

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a Growth Score of 100, which is Very Strong. Helios Technologies, Inc. has a Growth Score of 77, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: Watts Water Technologies, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Helios Technologies, Inc.. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, Watts Water Technologies, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company Ticker Quality
Watts Water Technologies, Inc. WTS A
Helios Technologies, Inc. HLIO 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.

Watts Water Technologies, Inc. has a Quality Score of 90, which is Very Strong. Helios Technologies, Inc. has a Quality Score of 93, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and 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.

Don’t Forget Your Free Special Report on How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Investment Decisions

Other Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and Inc. Grades

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

AAII Platinum Banner

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.

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

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 Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Watts Water Technologies, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 24, Growth Score of 100 and Quality Score of 90.

Helios Technologies, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 31, Growth Score of 77 and Quality Score of 93.

Comparing Watts Water Technologies, Inc., Helios Technologies and 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.

Learn More About A+ Investor

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.



Find New Stock Opportunities With Included With AAII Platinum
O'Neil CAN SLIM Screen: 38.3% Compared to S&P 500
at only 23.3%

Since Inception. Data as of 12/31/2024.




Try AAII Platinum and get full access to
769.3% Stock Superstars Portfolio Total Return Since Inception
Compare to:
710.3% iShare DOW Jones
U.S. Index ETF (IYY)

SSR Group 3 O'Shaughnessy portfolio has a 411.2% gain since inception performance compared to IYY at only 119.1%% Performance as of 11/29/24.

Get your free copy of our special report analyzing the tech stocks most likely to outperform the market.

Download the FREE Report Here:

BECOME A MEMBER FOR ONLY $2

Get access to powerful investment discovery tools and a wealth of investment education to help you achieve your financial goals.