A. O. Smith
AOS · Building Products
$61.65
1.3%Advanced Drainage Systems
WMS · Building Products
$130.40
0.4%The short version
- A. O. Smith is the larger business, with $3.8B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $3.1B for Advanced Drainage Systems.
- Advanced Drainage Systems grew revenue faster (5.0%, against 0.3%).
- Advanced Drainage Systems kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (20.3% operating margin, against 19.0% operating margin).
- Advanced Drainage Systems turned more of its sales into free cash flow (18.7% FCF margin, against 14.3% FCF margin).
- A. O. Smith earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (30.7%, against 15.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Advanced Drainage Systems’s earnings: a P/E of 22.5x against 17.1x for A. O. Smith.
| Latest fiscal year | AOS · FY25 | WMS · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $8.5B | $10.0B |
| Revenue | $3.8B | $3.1B |
| Free cash flow | $546M | $569M |
| Net income | $546M | $427M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 0.3% | 5.0% |
| 5-year growth | 5.8% | 9.0% |
| Share count change | −3.5% | 0.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 38.8% | 38.3% |
| Operating margin | 19.0% | 20.3% |
| Net margin | 14.3% | 14.0% |
| FCF margin | 14.3% | 18.7% |
| Return on capital | 30.7% | 15.8% |
| Return on equity | 29.2% | 25.2% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$38.2M | $1.6B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −0.1x | 1.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $597M | $148M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 17.1x | 22.5x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 4 |
FY17
AOS $3.0B
WMS $1.3B
FY18
AOS $3.2B
WMS $1.3B
FY19
AOS $3.0B
WMS $1.4B
FY20
AOS $2.9B
WMS $1.7B
FY21
AOS $3.5B
WMS $2.0B
FY22
AOS $3.8B
WMS $2.8B
FY23
AOS $3.9B
WMS $3.1B
FY24
AOS $3.8B
WMS $2.9B
FY25
AOS $3.8B
WMS $2.9B
FY26
AOS —
WMS $3.1B
AOS
WMS
FY17
AOS 19.3%
WMS 6.1%
FY18
AOS 19.2%
WMS 6.6%
FY19
AOS 17.7%
WMS 9.4%
FY20
AOS 17.4%
WMS −5.7%
FY21
AOS 19.3%
WMS 17.4%
FY22
AOS 9.6%
WMS 14.9%
FY23
AOS 19.4%
WMS 23.4%
FY24
AOS 18.5%
WMS 25.5%
FY25
AOS 19.0%
WMS 22.6%
FY26
AOS —
WMS 20.3%
AOS
WMS
FY17
AOS $232M
WMS $57.6M
FY18
AOS $364M
WMS $95.4M
FY19
AOS $392M
WMS $108M
FY20
AOS $505M
WMS $239M
FY21
AOS $566M
WMS $373M
FY22
AOS $321M
WMS $126M
FY23
AOS $598M
WMS $541M
FY24
AOS $474M
WMS $534M
FY25
AOS $546M
WMS $369M
FY26
AOS —
WMS $569M
AOS
WMS
FY17
AOS 28.4%
WMS 8.4%
FY18
AOS 38.6%
WMS 12.6%
FY19
AOS 30.8%
WMS 14.4%
FY20
AOS 29.3%
WMS −6.7%
FY21
AOS 39.8%
WMS 16.6%
FY22
AOS 24.1%
WMS 17.7%
FY23
AOS 35.2%
WMS 29.2%
FY24
AOS 31.6%
WMS 27.9%
FY25
AOS 30.7%
WMS 22.0%
FY26
AOS —
WMS 15.8%
AOS
WMS
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Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.