Reviewing Paul Mueller (OTCMKTS:MUEL) and Dover (NYSE:DOV)

Paul Mueller (OTCMKTS:MUEL) and Dover (NYSE:DOV) are both industrials companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings and profitability.

Volatility and Risk

Paul Mueller has a beta of 0.17, indicating that its share price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dover has a beta of 1.16, indicating that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Paul Mueller and Dover’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Paul Mueller	10.88%	32.38%	15.33%
Dover	13.30%	18.01%	10.10%

Dividends

Paul Mueller pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Dover pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Paul Mueller pays out 3.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dover pays out 25.9% 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. Dover has increased its dividend for 70 consecutive years. Dover is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Paul Mueller and Dover, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Paul Mueller	0	0	0	0	0.00
Dover	0	7	8	0	2.53

Dover has a consensus price target of $241.43, suggesting a potential upside of 12.60%. Given Dover’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Dover is more favorable than Paul Mueller.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

84.5% of Dover shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.0% of Paul Mueller shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Dover shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Paul Mueller and Dover”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Paul Mueller	$287.00 million	1.46	$34.68 million	$40.34	11.55
Dover	$8.09 billion	3.57	$1.09 billion	$8.02	26.73

Dover has higher revenue and earnings than Paul Mueller. Paul Mueller is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dover, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Dover beats Paul Mueller on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Paul Mueller

Paul Mueller Company, together with its subsidiaries, provides manufactured equipment and components in the United States, North America, Asia, the Far East, the Netherlands, EU countries, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through four reportable segments: Dairy Farm Equipment, Industrial Equipment, Field Fabrication, and Transportation. The Dairy Farm Equipment segment offers milk cooling and storage equipment and accessories, refrigeration units, and heat recovery equipment for use on dairy farms to independent dealers for resale, and directly to farmers; and services for farmers, as well as milk coolers for rent to farmers. The Industrial Equipment segment sells food, beverage, chemical, and industrial processing equipment; and biopharmaceutical and pure water equipment, as well as stainless steel, alloy processing, storage tanks, and heat transfer products. The Field Fabrication segment sells large, field-fabricated tanks and vessels, such as stainless steel storage tanks for sanitary and industrial process applications. The Transportation segment offers delivery of products to customers; backhauls of materials and components; and contract carriage for third parties. It serves its products in various industries, including animal health, beverage, brewing, chemical, dairy farm, dairy processing, food, heat transfer, HVAC, industrial construction, oil and gas, personal care, pharmaceutical, pure water, tank fabrication, and wine. The company was founded in 1940 and is headquartered in Springfield, Missouri.

About Dover

Dover Corporation provides equipment and components, consumable supplies, aftermarket parts, software and digital solutions, and support services worldwide. The company's Engineered Products segment provides various equipment, component, software, solution, and services that are used in vehicle aftermarket, waste handling, industrial automation, aerospace and defense, industrial winch and hoist, and fluid dispensing end-market. This segment offers manual and power clamp, rotary and linear mechanical indexer, conveyor, pick and place unit, glove port, and manipulator, as well as end-of-arm robotic gripper, slide, and end effector; winches, hoists, bearings, drives, and electric monitoring system; and radio frequency and microwave filters and switches, and signal intelligence solutions. Its Clean Energy & Fueling segment offers component, equipment, and software and service solution enabling safe storage and transport of fuel, cryogenic gases, and hazardous fluids, as well as operation of retail fueling and vehicle wash establishment. The company's Imaging & Identification segment provides precision marking and coding, product traceability equipment, brand protection, and digital textile printing equipment and solution, as well as related consumable, software, and service to packaged and consumer goods, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, fashion and apparel, and other end-market. Its Pumps & Process Solutions segment manufactures specialty pump, connector, flow meter, fluid connecting solution, plastics and polymer processing equipment, and engineered components for rotating and reciprocating machines. The company's Climate & Sustainability Technologies segment manufactures refrigeration system, refrigeration display case, commercial glass refrigerator and freezer door, and brazed plate heat exchanger for industrial heating and cooling, and residential climate control applications. The company was incorporated in 1947 and is headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois.