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 Pentair plc or ESAB Corporation 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 Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation

Pentair plc provides various water solutions in the United States, Western Europe, China, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Canada. It operates through three segments: Flow, Water Solutions, and Pool. The Flow segment designs, manufactures, and sells fluid treatment and pump products and systems, including pressure vessels, gas recovery solutions, membrane bioreactors, wastewater reuse systems and advanced membrane filtration, separation systems, specialty insertion valves, water disposal pumps, water supply pumps, fluid transfer pumps, turbine pumps, solid handling pumps, and agricultural spray nozzles. This segment provides products under Pentair Flow, Aurora, Berkeley, Codeline, Fairbanks-Nijhuis, Haffmans, Hydromatic, Hypro, Jung Pumpen, Myers, Sta-Rite, Shurflo, Südmo, and X-Flow brand names. The Water Solutions segment offers commercial and residential water treatment products and systems, such as pressure tanks, control valves, activated carbon products, commercial ice machines, conventional filtration products, and point-of-entry and point-of-use water treatment systems for use in water filtration and water softening solutions, as well as commercial water management and filtration solutions in foodservice operations; and installation and preventative services for water management solutions for commercial operators under the Pentair Water Solutions, Everpure, Fleck, Manitowoc Ice, Pentek, and RainSoft brands. The Pool segment provides residential and commercial pool equipment and accessories, including pumps, filters, heaters, lights, automatic controls and cleaners, chlorinators, maintenance equipment, and pool accessories for residential and commercial pool maintenance, pool repair, renovation, service, construction, and aquaculture solutions. This segment offers products under the Pentair Pool, Kreepy Krauly, Pleatco, and Sta-Rite brands. Pentair plc was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

ESAB Corporation engages in the formulation, development, manufacture, and supply of consumable products and equipment for use in cutting, joining, automated welding, and gas control equipment. It offers its products through independent distributors and direct salespeople. It operates in Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and the Middle East. ESAB Corporation was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in North Bethesda, Maryland.

Latest Machinery and Pentair plc, ESAB Corporation Stock News

As of July 31, 2026, Pentair plc had a $10.4 billion market capitalization, compared to the Machinery median of $3.9 million. Pentair plc’s stock is down 37.2% in 2026, up 4.1% in the previous five trading days and down 35.4% in the past year.

Currently, Pentair plc’s price-earnings ratio is 16.9. Pentair plc’s trailing 12-month revenue is $4.0 billion with a 16.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -17.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.647 per share for the current fiscal year. Pentair plc currently has a 1.7% dividend yield.

As of July 31, 2026, ESAB Corporation had a $5.4 billion market cap, putting it in the 68th percentile of all stocks. ESAB Corporation’s stock is down 22.5% in 2026, up 2.5% in the previous five trading days and down 34.68% in the past year.

Currently, ESAB Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 22.9. ESAB Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $2.9 billion with a 7.1% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 10.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $5.698 per share for the current fiscal year. ESAB Corporation currently has a 0.5% dividend yield.

How We Compare Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation 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 Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Pentair plc	PNR	C
ESAB Corporation	ESAB	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.

Pentair plc has a Value Score of 47, which is Average. ESAB Corporation has a Value Score of 38, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Pentair plc or ESAB Corporation 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 Pentair plc or ESAB Corporation is the better investment when it comes to value.

Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Pentair plc	PNR	B
ESAB Corporation	ESAB	A

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.

Pentair plc has a Growth Score of 77, which is Strong. ESAB Corporation has a Growth Score of 95, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: ESAB Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, ESAB Corporation has a more attractive growth grade than Pentair plc. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, ESAB Corporation 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.

Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Pentair plc	PNR	F
ESAB Corporation	ESAB	F

Momentum grades help to 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. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

Pentair plc has a Momentum Score of 17, which is Very Weak. ESAB Corporation has a Momentum Score of 18, which is Very Weak.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Pentair plc or ESAB Corporation has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Pentair plc or ESAB Corporation is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation Grades

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

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).

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite 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 F-Score.

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 Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Pentair plc or ESAB Corporation Stock?

Overall, Pentair plc stock has a Value Score of 47, Growth Score of 77 and Momentum Score of 17.

ESAB Corporation stock has a Value Score of 38, Growth Score of 95 and Momentum Score of 18.

Comparing Pentair plc and ESAB Corporation’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.