Louisiana-Pacific vs Advanced Drainage Systems
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The short version
- Advanced Drainage Systems is the larger business, with $3.1B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $2.7B for Louisiana-Pacific.
- Advanced Drainage Systems grew revenue faster (5.0%, against −7.9%).
- Advanced Drainage Systems kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (20.3% operating margin, against 7.7%).
- Advanced Drainage Systems turned more of its sales into free cash flow (18.7% FCF margin, against 3.4%).
- Advanced Drainage Systems earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (15.8%, against 9.0%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Louisiana-Pacific’s earnings: a P/E of 94.6x against 22.5x for Advanced Drainage Systems.
| Latest fiscal year | LPX · FY25 | WMS · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $5.2B | $10.0B |
| Revenue | $2.7B | $3.1B |
| Free cash flow | $91.0M | $569M |
| Net income | $146M | $427M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −7.9% | 5.0% |
| 5-year growth | 2.5% | 9.0% |
| Share count change | −1.4% | 0.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 21.8% | 38.3% |
| Operating margin | 7.7% | 20.3% |
| Net margin | 5.4% | 14.0% |
| FCF margin | 3.4% | 18.7% |
| Return on capital | 9.0% | 15.8% |
| Return on equity | 8.6% | 25.2% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $56.0M | $1.6B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.2x | 1.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $139M | $148M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 94.6x | 22.5x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 4 |
Revenue
FY17
LPX $2.7B
WMS $1.3B
FY18
LPX $2.8B
WMS $1.3B
FY19
LPX $2.3B
WMS $1.4B
FY20
LPX $2.4B
WMS $1.7B
FY21
LPX $3.9B
WMS $2.0B
FY22
LPX $3.9B
WMS $2.8B
FY23
LPX $2.6B
WMS $3.1B
FY24
LPX $2.9B
WMS $2.9B
FY25
LPX $2.7B
WMS $2.9B
FY26
LPX —
WMS $3.1B
LPX
WMS
Operating margin
FY17
LPX 19.5%
WMS 6.1%
FY18
LPX 18.6%
WMS 6.6%
FY19
LPX −0.9%
WMS 9.4%
FY20
LPX 25.6%
WMS −5.7%
FY21
LPX 44.3%
WMS 17.4%
FY22
LPX 32.4%
WMS 14.9%
FY23
LPX 11.1%
WMS 23.4%
FY24
LPX 18.0%
WMS 25.5%
FY25
LPX 7.7%
WMS 22.6%
FY26
LPX —
WMS 20.3%
LPX
WMS
Free cash flow
FY17
LPX $325M
WMS $57.6M
FY18
LPX $297M
WMS $95.4M
FY19
LPX −$4.0M
WMS $108M
FY20
LPX $588M
WMS $239M
FY21
LPX $1.2B
WMS $373M
FY22
LPX $730M
WMS $126M
FY23
LPX $16.0M
WMS $541M
FY24
LPX $422M
WMS $534M
FY25
LPX $91.0M
WMS $369M
FY26
LPX —
WMS $569M
LPX
WMS
Return on capital
FY17
LPX 41.6%
WMS 8.4%
FY18
LPX 36.2%
WMS 12.6%
FY19
LPX −1.4%
WMS 14.4%
FY20
LPX 44.6%
WMS −6.7%
FY21
LPX 116.7%
WMS 16.6%
FY22
LPX 72.5%
WMS 17.7%
FY23
LPX 13.1%
WMS 29.2%
FY24
LPX 23.7%
WMS 27.9%
FY25
LPX 9.0%
WMS 22.0%
FY26
LPX —
WMS 15.8%
LPX
WMS
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.