Comparing Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS) & Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN)

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor (NYSE:ZWS) and Waste Connections (NYSE:WCN) are both business services companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings, valuation and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor and Waste Connections, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor	0	5	4	0	2.44
Waste Connections	0	4	14	4	3.00

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor currently has a consensus price target of $51.63, suggesting a potential upside of 14.73%. Waste Connections has a consensus price target of $203.52, suggesting a potential upside of 22.64%. Given Waste Connections’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Waste Connections is more favorable than Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor.

Dividends

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Waste Connections pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor pays out 38.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Waste Connections pays out 33.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years and Waste Connections has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor and Waste Connections”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor	$1.70 billion	4.45	$198.00 million	$1.15	39.13
Waste Connections	$9.47 billion	4.47	$1.08 billion	$4.17	39.80

Waste Connections has higher revenue and earnings than Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waste Connections, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Waste Connections has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

83.3% of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.1% of Waste Connections shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.4% of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Waste Connections shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor and Waste Connections’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor	11.68%	16.54%	9.82%
Waste Connections	11.37%	16.25%	6.41%

Summary

Waste Connections beats Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Cor

Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation engages in design, procurement, manufacture, and marketing of water management solutions in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It offers water safety and control products, such as backflow preventers, fire system valves, pressure reducing valves, thermostatic mixing valves, PEX pipings, fittings, and installation tools under the Zurn and Wilkins brand names. The company also provides flow systems products comprising point drains, hydrants, fixture carrier systems, chemical drainage systems; and interceptors and separators, acid neutralization systems, and remote monitoring systems under the Zurn and Green Turtle brands. In addition, it develops, manufactures, and markets remote tank monitoring devices, alarms, software, and services. Further, the company offers sensor-operated flush valves under the AquaSense, Aquaflush, and AquaVantage brands; heavy-duty commercial faucets under the AquaSpec brand; water conserving fixtures under the EcoVantage and Zurn One brands; stainless steel products under the Just Manufacturing brand name, which include stainless steel sinks and plumbing fixtures, and various types of sinks, as well as drinking water dispensing and filtration products under the Elkay and Halsey Taylor brands. It distributes to institutional, commercial, waterworks, and residential end markets through independent sales representatives, plumbing wholesalers, and industry-specific distributors in the waterworks, foodservice, industrial, janitorial, sanitation, and sitework industries. The company was formerly known as Zurn Water Solutions Corporation and changed its name to Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation in July 2022. Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corporation was incorporated in 1892 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

About Waste Connections

Waste Connections, Inc. provides non-hazardous waste collection, transfer, disposal, and resource recovery services in the United States and Canada. It offers collection services to residential, commercial, municipal, industrial, and exploration and production (E&P) customers; landfill disposal services; and recycling services for various recyclable materials, including compost, cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, glass bottles, and ferrous and aluminum metals. The company owns and operates transfer stations that receive compact and/or load waste to be transported to landfills or treatment facilities through truck, rail, or barge; and intermodal services for the rail haul movement of cargo and solid waste containers in the Pacific Northwest through a network of intermodal facilities. In addition, it provides E&P waste treatment, recovery, and disposal services for waste resulting from oil and natural gas exploration and production activity, such as drilling fluids, drill cuttings, completion fluids, and flowback water; production wastes and produced water during a well's operating life; contaminated soils that require treatment during site reclamation; and substances, which require clean-up after a spill, reserve pit clean-up, or pipeline rupture. Further, the company offers leasing services to its customers. Waste Connections, Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in Woodbridge, Canada.