MLI vs WSO Comparison

Mueller Industries Inc makes copper, brass, aluminum, and plastic products. The company reports three business segments: piping systems, industrial metals, and climate. Piping systems, earning majority of the company's revenue, produces tubes, fittings, rods, valves, and other products and operates various firms world-wide. The industrial metals segment manufactures impacts and micro-gauge, brass rod and copper bar products, and brass value-added products. The climate segment produces items used to create temperature-control goods, including valves, twisted tubes, coaxial heat exchangers, and others. Geographically, it operates in USA, UK, Canada, Asia and the Middle East and Mexico.

Watsco is the largest HVAC and refrigeration products distributor in North America with approximately 13% market share. The company primarily operates in the United States (90% of revenue) with significant exposure in the Sunbelt states. Watsco also has operations in Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The company's customer base comprises more than 120,000 dealers and contractors serving the replacement and new-construction HVAC/R markets for residential and light-commercial applications. As much as 20% of residential HVAC units are distributed through Watsco in any given year. Revenue is approximately 75%-80% residential HVAC and 20%-25% commercial, with relatively small exposure to more complex "applied" solutions.