Mueller Industries, Inc. (MLI) vs Proto Labs, Inc. (PRLB)

Mueller Industries, Inc. and Proto Labs, Inc. are both Metal Fabrication companies. Mueller Industries, Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $13.4B against $2.1B — 6.4× the size. Mueller Industries, Inc. trades at the lower P/E: 15.4× against 67.4×. Mueller Industries, Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 14.8% against 10.2%. Mueller Industries, Inc. has the higher net margin (18.3% vs 5.44%) and the higher return on invested capital (30.9% vs 4.19%). Across the 22 metrics below, Mueller Industries, Inc. leads on 17 and Proto Labs, Inc. on 5.

Valuation

Metric MLI PRLB Metal Fabrication median
P/E 15.38 67.44 17.49
P/S 2.80 3.66 1.08
P/B 3.65 2.97 1.61
Price to free cash flow 19.10 34.93 20.17
EV/EBITDA 10.24 27.55 17.12
EV/Sales 2.50 3.42 1.92
Earnings yield 6.50% 1.48% 2.35%
Free cash flow yield 5.24% 2.86% 0.96%

Profitability

Metric MLI PRLB Metal Fabrication median
Gross margin 28.78% 45.42% 21.08%
Operating margin 22.96% 6.57% 5.14%
Net margin 18.25% 5.44% 4.70%
Free cash flow margin 14.67% 10.49% 1.45%
Return on equity 26.11% 4.49% 0.00%
Return on assets 21.96% 3.97% 1.56%
Return on invested capital 30.92% 4.19% 2.19%

Growth

Metric MLI PRLB Metal Fabrication median
Revenue growth (TTM) 14.81% 10.20% 9.93%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 29.19% 33.33% 37.36%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 11.75% 4.18% 6.12%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 40.55% (16.03%) 0.00%

Health

Metric MLI PRLB Metal Fabrication median
Debt to equity 0.00 0.00 0.30
Current ratio 4.78 3.64 2.08
Net debt to EBITDA (1.35) (2.17) 1.67

Dividend

Metric MLI PRLB Metal Fabrication median
Dividend yield 1.08% — 1.08%
Payout ratio 0.17 — 0.14

Size

Metric MLI PRLB Metal Fabrication median
Market cap 13.40b 2.09b 982.18m

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