Advanced Drainage Systems vs Watts Water Technologies
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The short version
- Advanced Drainage Systems is the larger business, with $3.1B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $2.4B for Watts Water Technologies.
- Watts Water Technologies grew revenue faster (8.3%, against 5.0%).
- Advanced Drainage Systems kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (20.3% operating margin, against 18.4%).
- Advanced Drainage Systems turned more of its sales into free cash flow (18.7% FCF margin, against 14.6%).
- Watts Water Technologies earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (20.5%, against 15.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Watts Water Technologies’s earnings: a P/E of 31.3x against 22.5x for Advanced Drainage Systems.
| Latest fiscal year | WMS · FY26 | WTS · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $10.0B | $12.0B |
| Revenue | $3.1B | $2.4B |
| Free cash flow | $569M | $356M |
| Net income | $427M | $341M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 5.0% | 8.3% |
| 5-year growth | 9.0% | 10.1% |
| Share count change | 0.3% | 0.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 38.3% | 49.5% |
| Operating margin | 20.3% | 18.4% |
| Net margin | 14.0% | 14.0% |
| FCF margin | 18.7% | 14.6% |
| Return on capital | 15.8% | 20.5% |
| Return on equity | 25.2% | 18.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.6B | −$205M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.9x | −0.4x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $148M | $82.9M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 22.5x | 31.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 8 |
Revenue
FY17
WMS $1.3B
WTS $1.5B
FY18
WMS $1.3B
WTS $1.6B
FY19
WMS $1.4B
WTS $1.6B
FY20
WMS $1.7B
WTS $1.5B
FY21
WMS $2.0B
WTS $1.8B
FY22
WMS $2.8B
WTS $2.0B
FY23
WMS $3.1B
WTS $2.1B
FY24
WMS $2.9B
WTS $2.3B
FY25
WMS $2.9B
WTS $2.4B
FY26
WMS $3.1B
WTS —
WMS
WTS
Operating margin
FY17
WMS 6.1%
WTS 11.1%
FY18
WMS 6.6%
WTS 12.0%
FY19
WMS 9.4%
WTS 12.3%
FY20
WMS −5.7%
WTS 12.0%
FY21
WMS 17.4%
WTS 13.2%
FY22
WMS 14.9%
WTS 15.9%
FY23
WMS 23.4%
WTS 17.1%
FY24
WMS 25.5%
WTS 17.3%
FY25
WMS 22.6%
WTS 18.4%
FY26
WMS 20.3%
WTS —
WMS
WTS
Free cash flow
FY17
WMS $57.6M
WTS $127M
FY18
WMS $95.4M
WTS $134M
FY19
WMS $108M
WTS $165M
FY20
WMS $239M
WTS $185M
FY21
WMS $373M
WTS $154M
FY22
WMS $126M
WTS $196M
FY23
WMS $541M
WTS $281M
FY24
WMS $534M
WTS $326M
FY25
WMS $369M
WTS $356M
FY26
WMS $569M
WTS —
WMS
WTS
Return on capital
FY17
WMS 8.4%
WTS 7.9%
FY18
WMS 12.6%
WTS 13.2%
FY19
WMS 14.4%
WTS 13.3%
FY20
WMS −6.7%
WTS 11.7%
FY21
WMS 16.6%
WTS 15.9%
FY22
WMS 17.7%
WTS 23.2%
FY23
WMS 29.2%
WTS 20.2%
FY24
WMS 27.9%
WTS 19.7%
FY25
WMS 22.0%
WTS 20.5%
FY26
WMS 15.8%
WTS —
WMS
WTS
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.