Analyzing Xylem (XYL) & Its Rivals

Xylem (NYSE:XYL) is one of 39 publicly-traded companies in the “Waste Removal Svcs” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Xylem to similar companies based on the strength of its risk, profitability, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Xylem and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Xylem	$8.56 billion	$890.00 million	34.45
Xylem Competitors	$3.35 billion	$263.08 million	30.89

Xylem has higher revenue and earnings than its competitors. Xylem is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Xylem and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Xylem	0	3	6	0	2.67
Xylem Competitors	323	1120	1895	130	2.53

Xylem currently has a consensus price target of $143.71, suggesting a potential upside of 12.14%. As a group, “Waste Removal Svcs” companies have a potential upside of 11.02%. Given Xylem’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Xylem is more favorable than its competitors.

Risk and Volatility

Xylem has a beta of 1.13, meaning that its share price is 13% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Xylem’s competitors have a beta of 0.62, meaning that their average share price is 38% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.0% of Xylem shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 57.0% of shares of all “Waste Removal Svcs” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Xylem shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 12.6% of shares of all “Waste Removal Svcs” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Xylem pays an annual dividend of $1.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Xylem pays out 43.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Waste Removal Svcs” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.0% and pay out 50.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Xylem has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Xylem is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Profitability

This table compares Xylem and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Xylem	10.54%	10.12%	6.62%
Xylem Competitors	-97.71%	-458.29%	-3.74%

Summary

Xylem beats its competitors on 13 of the 15 factors compared.

About Xylem

Xylem Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, manufacture, and servicing of engineered products and solutions worldwide. It operates through four segments: Water Infrastructure, Applied Water, Measurement & Control Solutions, and Integrated Solutions and Services. The Water Infrastructure segment offers products, including water, storm water, and wastewater pumps; controls and systems; filtration, disinfection, and biological treatment equipment; and mobile dewatering equipment and rental services under the ADI, Flygt, Godwin, Sanitaire, Magneto, Neptune Benson, Ionpure, Leopold, Wedeco, and Xylem Vue brands. The Applied Water segment provides pumps, valves, heat exchangers, controls, and dispensing equipment systems under the Goulds Water Technology, Bell & Gossett, A-C Fire Pump, Standard Xchange, Lowara, Jabsco, Xylem Vue, and Flojet brands. The Measurement & Control Solutions segment offers smart meters, networked communication devices, data analytics, test equipment, controls, sensor devices, software and managed services, and critical infrastructure services; and software and services, including cloud-based analytics, remote monitoring and data management, leak detection, condition assessment, asset management, and pressure monitoring solutions, as well as testing equipment. This segment sells its products under the Pure Technologies, Sensus, Smith Blair, WTW, Xylem Vue, and YSI brands. The Integrated Solutions and Services segment provides maintenance services, mobile services, digital outsourced solutions, wastewater systems, environmental remediation, odor and corrosion control, filtration, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, and deionization under Aquapro, WaterOne, and Ion Pure brands. Xylem Inc. was formerly known as ITT WCO, Inc. and changed its name to Xylem Inc. in May 2011. Xylem Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Washington, District of Columbia.