DNOW Inc. (DNOW) vs MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. (MSM)

DNOW Inc. and MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. are both Industrial Distribution companies. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $7.2B against $2.8B — 2.5× the size. DNOW Inc. has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. trades at 31.3×. DNOW Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 69.8% against 4.41%. MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. has the higher net margin (5.91% vs −4.63%) and the higher return on invested capital (11.2% vs −4.78%). Across the 20 metrics below, DNOW Inc. leads on 11 and MSC Industrial Direct Company, Inc. on 9.

Valuation

Metric DNOW MSM Industrial Distribution median
P/E n/m 31.28 28.59
P/S 0.69 1.85 1.07
P/B 1.35 5.09 3.42
Price to free cash flow 21.97 32.72 21.97
EV/EBITDA n/m 17.73 14.63
EV/Sales 0.78 1.96 1.26
Earnings yield (6.87%) 3.20% 3.20%
Free cash flow yield 4.55% 3.06% 3.97%

Profitability

Metric DNOW MSM Industrial Distribution median
Gross margin 15.85% 40.82% 30.34%
Operating margin (4.60%) 8.50% 8.06%
Net margin (4.63%) 5.91% 4.95%
Free cash flow margin 3.33% 5.65% 4.67%
Return on equity (11.60%) 16.54% 14.29%
Return on assets (6.90%) 9.30% 5.30%
Return on invested capital (4.78%) 11.21% 8.13%

Growth

Metric DNOW MSM Industrial Distribution median
Revenue growth (TTM) 69.84% 4.41% 7.80%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) (202.70%) (22.05%) (3.98%)
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 11.74% 3.38% 9.01%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 0.00% (4.51%) 0.99%

Health

Metric DNOW MSM Industrial Distribution median
Debt to equity 0.23 0.36 0.53
Current ratio 2.14 1.55 2.47
Net debt to EBITDA (8.52) 1.09 1.17

Dividend

Metric DNOW MSM Industrial Distribution median
Dividend yield — 2.69% 1.62%
Payout ratio — 0.84 0.48

Size

Metric DNOW MSM Industrial Distribution median
Market cap 2.83b 7.20b 5.75b

Compare with another peer

Any metric, up to five companies and an Excel export Powerpack