Is MWA a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores Mueller Water Products, Inc. on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how MWA compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is Mueller Water Products, Inc.'s AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to MWA based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes MWA a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

MWA - Mueller Water Products, Inc.

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Hold DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $32.25 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Platform & Compounding FCF

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

B+ 75.1 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for platform & compounding fcf businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

Profitability

Weight: 25%

B- 65.5

5yr Avg ROIC 8.5% 52/100
Operating Margin Trend +1.76 pp/yr 96/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

B- 66.4

5yr Avg ROE 11.0% 65/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR -0.3% 69/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 25%

A- 85.4

5yr Revenue CAGR 6.5% 68/100
5yr EPS CAGR 29.0% 100/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 5/5 100/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 20%

B+ 75.1

5yr FCF Margin 7.9% 62/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion 0.91x 91/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 10%

A+ 93.9

Net Debt / EBITDA 0.07x 94/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 13.04x 90/100
Altman Z-Score 4.65 98/100

Stability

Weight: 5%

C+ 59.9

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.48 33/100
Piotroski F-Score 6 67/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 0/5 100/100

4 of 4 gurus held; 1 added; 3 trimmed.

Holders: 4
Avg Δ position: -48.3%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 0

Wood decreased -91%
Cooperman decreased -60%
Greenblatt decreased -53%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (25%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (25%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (20%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (10%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (5%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.