MSA Safety vs RBC Bearings
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The short version
- MSA Safety is the larger business, with $1.9B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.9B for RBC Bearings.
- RBC Bearings grew revenue faster (14.3%, against 3.7%).
- RBC Bearings kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (22.5% operating margin, against 19.8%).
- RBC Bearings turned more of its sales into free cash flow (18.3% FCF margin, against 15.8%).
- MSA Safety earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (17.3%, against 8.0%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of RBC Bearings’s earnings: a P/E of 46.6x against 22.7x for MSA Safety.
| Latest fiscal year | MSA · FY25 | RBC · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $7.1B | $15.0B |
| Revenue | $1.9B | $1.9B |
| Free cash flow | $295M | $343M |
| Net income | $279M | $288M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 3.7% | 14.3% |
| 5-year growth | 6.8% | 25.2% |
| Share count change | −0.5% | 4.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 46.5% | 44.4% |
| Operating margin | 19.8% | 22.5% |
| Net margin | 14.9% | 15.4% |
| FCF margin | 15.8% | 18.3% |
| Return on capital | 17.3% | 8.0% |
| Return on equity | 22.2% | 9.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $416M | $864M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.9x | 1.6x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $172M | $0.0M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 22.7x | 46.6x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 6 |
Revenue
FY17
MSA $1.2B
RBC $615M
FY18
MSA $1.4B
RBC $675M
FY19
MSA $1.4B
RBC $703M
FY20
MSA $1.3B
RBC $728M
FY21
MSA $1.4B
RBC $609M
FY22
MSA $1.5B
RBC $943M
FY23
MSA $1.8B
RBC $1.5B
FY24
MSA $1.8B
RBC $1.6B
FY25
MSA $1.9B
RBC $1.6B
FY26
MSA —
RBC $1.9B
MSA
RBC
Operating margin
FY17
MSA 3.3%
RBC 18.6%
FY18
MSA 12.8%
RBC 19.1%
FY19
MSA 13.4%
RBC 18.8%
FY20
MSA 12.8%
RBC 20.5%
FY21
MSA 1.6%
RBC 18.8%
FY22
MSA 15.7%
RBC 12.8%
FY23
MSA 12.9%
RBC 19.9%
FY24
MSA 21.5%
RBC 21.9%
FY25
MSA 19.8%
RBC 22.6%
FY26
MSA —
RBC 22.5%
MSA
RBC
Free cash flow
FY17
MSA $207M
RBC $80.4M
FY18
MSA $230M
RBC $102M
FY19
MSA $128M
RBC $67.2M
FY20
MSA $158M
RBC $118M
FY21
MSA $155M
RBC $141M
FY22
MSA $115M
RBC $151M
FY23
MSA $50.1M
RBC $179M
FY24
MSA $242M
RBC $242M
FY25
MSA $295M
RBC $244M
FY26
MSA —
RBC $343M
MSA
RBC
Return on capital
FY17
MSA 4.0%
RBC 8.2%
FY18
MSA 14.8%
RBC 9.9%
FY19
MSA 15.8%
RBC 11.4%
FY20
MSA 13.3%
RBC 12.1%
FY21
MSA 1.8%
RBC 8.9%
FY22
MSA 13.7%
RBC —
FY23
MSA 8.4%
RBC —
FY24
MSA 20.3%
RBC 7.0%
FY25
MSA 17.3%
RBC 7.4%
FY26
MSA —
RBC 8.0%
MSA
RBC
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.