MSC Industrial Direct vs Watsco
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The short version
- Watsco is the larger business, with $7.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $4.0B for MSC Industrial Direct, about 1.8 times as much.
- MSC Industrial Direct grew revenue faster (6.4%, against −5.0%).
- Watsco kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (10.0% operating margin, against 8.0%).
- Watsco turned more of its sales into free cash flow (7.4% FCF margin, against 5.6%).
- Watsco earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (20.1%, against 13.2%).
| Latest fiscal year | MSM · FY26 | WSO · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $6.4B | $12.3B |
| Revenue | $4.0B | $7.2B |
| Free cash flow | $225M | $535M |
| Net income | $223M | $497M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 6.4% | −5.0% |
| 5-year growth | 4.3% | 7.5% |
| Share count change | 0.2% | 1.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 40.9% | 28.1% |
| Operating margin | 8.0% | 10.0% |
| Net margin | 5.6% | 6.9% |
| FCF margin | 5.6% | 7.4% |
| Return on capital | 13.2% | 20.1% |
| Return on equity | 15.8% | 18.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $412M | −$255M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.0x | −0.3x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $208M | $474M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 27.8x |
| Piotroski F-score | 8 | 6 |
Revenue
FY17
MSM $2.9B
WSO $4.3B
FY18
MSM $3.2B
WSO $4.5B
FY19
MSM $3.4B
WSO $4.8B
FY20
MSM $3.2B
WSO $5.1B
FY21
MSM $3.2B
WSO $6.3B
FY22
MSM $3.7B
WSO $7.3B
FY23
MSM $4.0B
WSO $7.3B
FY24
MSM $3.8B
WSO $7.6B
FY25
MSM $3.8B
WSO $7.2B
FY26
MSM $4.0B
WSO —
MSM
WSO
Operating margin
FY17
MSM 13.1%
WSO 8.2%
FY18
MSM 13.1%
WSO 8.2%
FY19
MSM 11.9%
WSO 7.7%
FY20
MSM 11.0%
WSO 7.9%
FY21
MSM 9.3%
WSO 10.0%
FY22
MSM 12.7%
WSO 11.4%
FY23
MSM 12.1%
WSO 10.9%
FY24
MSM 10.2%
WSO 10.3%
FY25
MSM 8.0%
WSO 10.0%
FY26
MSM 8.0%
WSO —
MSM
WSO
Free cash flow
FY17
MSM $200M
WSO $289M
FY18
MSM $295M
WSO $153M
FY19
MSM $277M
WSO $318M
FY20
MSM $350M
WSO $518M
FY21
MSM $171M
WSO $324M
FY22
MSM $185M
WSO $536M
FY23
MSM $607M
WSO $526M
FY24
MSM $311M
WSO $743M
FY25
MSM $241M
WSO $535M
FY26
MSM $225M
WSO —
MSM
WSO
Return on capital
FY17
MSM 14.0%
WSO 17.9%
FY18
MSM 18.8%
WSO 19.0%
FY19
MSM 16.0%
WSO 16.3%
FY20
MSM 14.3%
WSO 16.8%
FY21
MSM 12.3%
WSO 24.4%
FY22
MSM 17.6%
WSO 30.1%
FY23
MSM 18.2%
WSO 24.3%
FY24
MSM 15.4%
WSO 22.4%
FY25
MSM 12.2%
WSO 20.1%
FY26
MSM 13.2%
WSO —
MSM
WSO
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.