CMT vs MLI vs ACA Stock Comparison

Core Molding Technologies, Mueller Industries and Arcosa Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
MLI Mueller Industries Inc
$54.40 -10.1% 1M -47.2% 1Y
Market cap
$11.90B
P/E
13.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$5.00B
Div. yield
0.01%
Metal Fabrication Industrials
7 wins
ACA Arcosa, Inc.
$149.18 +1.7% 1M +61.6% 1Y
Market cap
$7.33B
P/E
14.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.74B
Div. yield
0.13%
Metal Fabrication Industrials
5 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Mueller Industries leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Mueller Industries 7, Arcosa 5). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCMTMLIACALeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $195.95M $11.90B $7.33B MLI
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 26.7x 13.8x 14.9x MLI
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 48.1x 13.5x 33.6x MLI
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months -7.9% +20.8% +9.7% MLI
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 2.9% 17.3% 17.9% ACA
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 4.2% 22.7% 6.5% MLI
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — -1.3x 1.8x MLI
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.01% 0.13% ACA
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +18.3% -47.2% +61.6% ACA
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +14.7%/yr +15.9%/yr +23.0%/yr ACA
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 42.2% 132.0% 31.7% ACA
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 53/100 85/100 56/100 MLI

Percentile Scorecard

CMTMLIACA

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisCMTMLIACA
Valuation 81 #40 of 203 81 #39 of 203 49 #105 of 203
Growth 7 #174 of 187 67 #63 of 187 82 #34 of 187
Profitability 36 #119 of 185 96 #9 of 185 51 #91 of 185
Financial Health 69 #68 of 219 97 #7 of 219 58 #92 of 219
Shareholder Returns 72 #43 of 153 86 #22 of 153 41 #90 of 153
Overall 53 85 56
  • CMT ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • MLI ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • ACA ranked among 222 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodCMTMLIACASPY
1 month -2.4%-10.1%+1.7% -0.8%
3 months -7.8%-15.2%+2.9% +3.5%
6 months -18.5%-60.1%+24.1% +7.0%
Year to date +12.8%-52.6%+40.3% +12.2%
1 year +18.3%-47.2%+61.6% +13.0%
3 years -12.2%+43.8%+117.4% +86.3%
3 years, per year -4.3%+12.9%+29.6% +23.1%
5 years +98.9%+109.0%+181.9% +68.6%
5 years, per year +14.7%+15.9%+23.0% +11.0%
10 years +26.7%+258.1%— +258.0%
10 years, per year +2.4%+13.6%— +13.6%

Risk

MeasureCMTMLIACASPY
Volatility, 1Y 42.2%132.0%31.7% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 41.6%165.1%32.9% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.590.700.95 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.43-0.361.94 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -56.0%-61.6%-36.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high -20.2%-61.4%0.0% -1.8%
52-week high $28.35$140.83$149.18 $779.14
52-week low $17.56$54.11$92.25 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleCMTMLIACA
P/E now vs peer median 26.4xmedian 26.0x 13.7xmedian 26.0x 14.9xmedian 26.0x
P/S now vs peer median 0.8xmedian 1.9x 2.4xmedian 1.9x 2.7xmedian 1.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 8.5xmedian 14.0x 9.2xmedian 14.0x 15.2xmedian 14.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median -23.3xmedian 21.4x 17.2xmedian 21.4x 54.9xmedian 21.4x
P/B now vs peer median 1.2xmedian 2.2x 3.3xmedian 2.2x 2.5xmedian 2.2x
PEG now vs peer median -0.93median 1.26 1.07median 1.26 0.75median 1.26

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsCMTMLIACA
Revenue $254.42M $5.00B $2.74B
Gross profit $46.19M $1.36B $632.30M
Operating income $9.22M $1.08B $322.70M
Net income $7.35M $871.57M $491.40M
Free cash flow -$8.30M $689.59M $133.40M
EPS (diluted) $0.84 $3.92 $9.99
Cash & equivalents $12.13M $1.45B $432.10M
Total debt – $5.24M $1.44B
Shares (diluted) 8.71M 220.12M 49.20M
Enterprise value $79.85M $6.21B $6.31B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricCMTMLIACA
P/E 26.4x 13.7x 14.9x
P/FCF -23.3x 17.2x 54.9x
P/Operating cash flow 11.6x 15.4x 21.5x
P/S 0.8x 2.4x 2.7x
P/B 1.2x 3.3x 2.5x
P/Tangible book 1.2x 3.7x 2.7x
EV/EBITDA 8.5x 9.2x 15.2x
EV/EBIT 19.7x 9.7x 25.8x
EV/Revenue 0.7x 2.1x 3.0x
EV/FCF -21.9x 15.1x 62.4x
EV/Operating cash flow 10.9x 13.5x 24.4x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -0.93 1.07 0.75

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCMTMLIACA
Revenue growth (1Y) -7.9% 20.8% 9.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -12.9% 11.9% 7.0%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -4.4% 11.7% 20.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -9.9% 9.2% 14.2%
Operating income growth (1Y) -26.4% 12.4% 61.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -29.0% 9.9% -5.6%
Net income growth (1Y) -21.5% 14.9% 433.0%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -28.3% 11.4% 20.2%
EPS growth (1Y) -22.3% 16.2% 430.8%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -28.5% 12.8% 19.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -30.0% 2.1% -23.1%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -21.9% 3.0% 16.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -165.4% 1.9% -54.9%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -33.3% 1.6% 54.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCMTMLIACA
Gross margin 18.2% 27.3% 23.0%
EBITDA margin 8.4% 22.5% 19.9%
Operating margin 3.6% 21.5% 11.8%
Pretax margin 3.7% 22.8% 8.4%
Net margin 2.9% 17.3% 17.9%
FCF margin -3.3% 13.8% 4.9%
Operating cash flow margin 6.5% 15.4% 12.4%
Return on equity 4.6% 24.5% 17.4%
Return on assets 3.1% 20.4% 9.5%
Return on invested capital 4.2% 22.7% 6.5%
Return on capital employed 4.9% 29.7% 6.9%
Asset turnover 1.1x 1.2x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.3x 0.9x 0.7x
Stock comp / revenue 0.7% 0.6% 0.9%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCMTMLIACA
Debt / assets – 0.1% 27.1%
Debt / equity – 0.0x 0.5x
Net debt / EBITDA – -1.3x 1.8x
Debt / FCF – 0.0x 10.8x
Liabilities / assets 29.2% 17.6% 43.7%
Equity / assets 70.8% 82.4% 56.3%
Interest coverage 56.6x 3,260x 3.3x
Current ratio 2.0x 4.4x 3.1x
Quick ratio 1.0x 3.4x 2.2x
Cash ratio 0.3x 2.3x 1.0x
Altman Z-score 4.17 13.45 3.18

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCMTMLIACA
Dividend yield – 1.2% 0.1%
Net buyback yield 1.6% 2.3% 0.2%
Shareholder yield 1.6% 3.5% 0.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 16.2% 2.0%
Payout ratio (FCF) – 20.5% 7.4%
Dividend growth (1Y) – 35.7% 1.0%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 30.2% 1.0%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusCMTMLIACA
Forward P/E 48.1xFY2026 13.5xFY2026 33.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $0.47FY2026 $4.03FY2026 $4.44FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -69.1%FY2026 +17.5%FY2026 -0.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +314.9% +10.2% +7.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $283.16MFY2026 $5.04BFY2026 $2.45BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +3.4%FY2026 +20.5%FY2026 -14.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +2.1% +10.9% +12.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCMTMLIACA
Held by institutions 75.1% 95.3% 91.8%
Institutions holding 92 738 426
Change in shares held, QoQ +2.5% +6.5% -1.1%
Institutions buying 44 419 230
Institutions selling 26 226 114
Buyers to sellers 1.69 1.85 2.02

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

CMTMLIACA
CMT 1.00 0.05 0.14
MLI 0.05 1.00 0.10
ACA 0.14 0.10 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CMT, MLI and ACA?

Mueller Industries (MLI) is the largest by market capitalisation: Core Molding Technologies (CMT) $195.95M, Mueller Industries (MLI) $11.90B, Arcosa (ACA) $7.33B.

Which stock is cheaper, CMT, MLI and ACA?

Mueller Industries (MLI) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Core Molding Technologies (CMT) 26.7x, Mueller Industries (MLI) 13.8x, Arcosa (ACA) 14.9x). On next year's consensus earnings, Mueller Industries (MLI) is cheapest (Core Molding Technologies (CMT) 48.1x, Mueller Industries (MLI) 13.5x, Arcosa (ACA) 33.6x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Mueller Industries (MLI) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Core Molding Technologies (CMT) -7.9%, Mueller Industries (MLI) +20.8%, Arcosa (ACA) +9.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

Arcosa (ACA) has the highest net margin (Core Molding Technologies (CMT) 2.9%, Mueller Industries (MLI) 17.3%, Arcosa (ACA) 17.9%). On return on invested capital, Mueller Industries (MLI) leads (Core Molding Technologies (CMT) 4.2%, Mueller Industries (MLI) 22.7%, Arcosa (ACA) 6.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Arcosa (ACA) returned the most: Core Molding Technologies (CMT) +18.3%, Mueller Industries (MLI) -47.2%, Arcosa (ACA) +61.6%. Over five years, Arcosa (ACA) compounded fastest (Core Molding Technologies (CMT) +14.7%/yr, Mueller Industries (MLI) +15.9%/yr, Arcosa (ACA) +23.0%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Arcosa (ACA) has the highest dividend yield: Core Molding Technologies (CMT) 0.00%, Mueller Industries (MLI) 0.01%, Arcosa (ACA) 0.13%. Core Molding Technologies (CMT) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Arcosa (ACA) has been the steadiest (Core Molding Technologies (CMT) 42.2%, Mueller Industries (MLI) 132.0%, Arcosa (ACA) 31.7%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CMT, MLI and ACA?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Mueller Industries (MLI) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.