CluenexMueller Industries MLI
Mueller Industries scores good on business quality (6.9 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Mueller Industries does
Mueller Industries manufactures industrial piping, valves, and metal fittings, selling directly to plumbing and HVAC distributors who pay for reliable flow-control hardware.
- What it does best
Mueller excels at asset efficiency, posting an ROE of 25.8% that outpaces peers like ITT at 10.4%. This edge comes from decades of specialized foundry consolidation and low-cost production infrastructure that new entrants cannot easily copy without massive capital outlays.
- The main risk
Fading momentum and cyclical demand pose the primary threat, as slower housing and construction activity directly depress volume orders for its core copper and brass piping lines.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin stands at 21.9% and free cash flow margin sits near 14.3%. Profitability remains strong and stable, proving the business extracts high cash returns as revenue scales.
A moderate moat anchors industrial and plumbing distributors through deep catalog integration and reliable supply. Its operating margin sits in the sector's top quartile at 21.9%, though low gross margins of 28.8% limit pricing power.
Revenue growth hit 10.9% to reach $4.7 billion, accelerating past historical annual figures of $3.8 billion as industrial demand and pricing power took hold.
Debt is zero with a net cash position of $1.4 billion and interest coverage exceeding 5,000x, making debt costs a rounding error. Free cash flow reached $666 million, showing the balance sheet is exceptionally rock-solid.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
3 sold $29.4M outside pre-planned sales.
Our sealed record on MLI
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Mueller Industries scores good on the Cluenex quality check (6.9 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is strong, moat fair, growth steady and financial health strong.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 3 sold $29.4M outside pre-planned sales.
Oct 27, 2026.
See MLI today
- Today's verdict on MLI, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Mueller Industries (MLI)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/mli/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.