CTAS vs ECL vs APG Stock Comparison

Cintas, Ecolab and APi Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
CTAS Cintas Corp
$224.10 +16.7% 1M +16.5% 1Y
Market cap
$90.42B
P/E
43.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$11.56B
Div. yield
0.01%
Facility Services Industrials
5 wins
ECL Ecolab Inc.
$288.57 +4.3% 1M +4.9% 1Y
Market cap
$81.05B
P/E
38.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$16.84B
Div. yield
0.01%
Water Treatment Industrials
4 wins
APG APi Group Corp
$39.46 +4.3% 1M +14.3% 1Y
Market cap
$17.43B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$8.44B
Div. yield
–
Facility Services Industrials
3 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Cintas leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Cintas 5, Ecolab 4, APi 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionCTASECLAPGLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $90.42B $81.05B $17.43B CTAS
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 43.9x 38.3x -70.3x ECL
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 38.3x 36.5x 23.3x APG
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +9.5% +7.1% +14.1% APG
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 17.8% 12.6% -2.9% CTAS
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 28.2% 11.0% 6.7% CTAS
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.7x 2.1x 2.8x CTAS
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.01% 0.00% ECL
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +16.5% +4.9% +14.3% CTAS
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +16.0%/yr +5.4%/yr +22.4%/yr APG
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 23.3% 21.9% 30.0% ECL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 60/100 66/100 44/100 ECL

Percentile Scorecard

CTASECLAPG

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

AxisCTASECLAPG
Valuation 18 #92 of 112 50 #11 of 21 31 #78 of 112
Growth 73 #27 of 96 83 #4 of 19 77 #23 of 96
Profitability 98 #3 of 93 88 #3 of 17 53 #44 of 93
Financial Health 70 #38 of 126 48 #12 of 22 46 #69 of 126
Shareholder Returns 41 #40 of 67 60 #5 of 11 15 #57 of 67
Overall 60 66 44
  • CTAS ranked among 130 companies in Business Services
  • ECL ranked among 22 companies in Environmental Equipment
  • APG ranked among 130 companies in Business Services

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodCTASECLAPGSPY
1 month +16.7%+4.3%+4.3% -1.0%
3 months +8.8%+7.4%-0.3% +2.9%
6 months +27.4%+7.1%-18.8% +6.4%
Year to date +19.2%+9.9%+3.1% +11.4%
1 year +16.5%+4.9%+14.3% +13.1%
3 years +77.2%+80.1%+133.9% +79.4%
3 years, per year +21.0%+21.7%+32.8% +21.5%
5 years +110.0%+30.3%+174.2% +67.7%
5 years, per year +16.0%+5.4%+22.4% +10.9%
10 years +742.1%+149.2%— +255.2%
10 years, per year +23.8%+9.6%— +13.5%

Risk

MeasureCTASECLAPGSPY
Volatility, 1Y 23.3%21.9%30.0% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 23.1%22.0%30.9% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.110.481.26 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.710.230.48 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -28.2%-44.3%-49.6% -25.4%
From 52-week high 0.0%-6.4%-20.1% -2.5%
52-week high $224.10$308.35$49.40 $779.14
52-week low $163.55$245.73$34.31 $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.

MultipleCTASECLAPG
P/E now vs peer median 43.5xmedian 21.0x 38.3xmedian 25.9x -68.9xmedian 21.0x
P/S now vs peer median 7.7xmedian 0.9x 4.8xmedian 2.5x 2.0xmedian 0.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 28.5xmedian 12.3x 22.9xmedian 19.3x 20.9xmedian 12.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median 44.0xmedian 15.1x 43.2xmedian 25.4x 25.2xmedian 15.1x
P/B now vs peer median 17.2xmedian 2.4x 8.0xmedian 2.0x 4.9xmedian 2.4x
PEG now vs peer median 2.86median 1.02 1.72median 1.53 0.99median 1.02

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 monthsCTASECLAPG
Revenue $11.56B $16.84B $8.44B
Gross profit $5.89B $7.43B $2.65B
Operating income $2.70B $2.85B $605.00M
Net income $2.06B $2.13B $346.00M
Free cash flow $2.03B $1.87B $676.00M
EPS (diluted) $5.10 $7.50 $-0.57
Cash & equivalents $243.60M $5.14B $851.00M
Total debt $2.43B $38.40B $3.52B
Shares (diluted) 404.29M 282.20M 437.00M
Enterprise value $89.51B $72.79B $14.47B

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
MetricCTASECLAPG
P/E 43.5x 38.3x -68.9x
P/FCF 44.0x 43.2x 25.2x
P/Operating cash flow 36.8x 26.5x 21.8x
P/S 7.7x 4.8x 2.0x
P/B 17.2x 8.0x 4.9x
P/Tangible book 18.2x 12.2x 9.6x
EV/EBITDA 28.5x 22.9x 20.9x
EV/EBIT 34.0x 31.2x 32.6x
EV/Revenue 7.9x 5.3x 2.3x
EV/FCF 45.1x 47.4x 29.2x
EV/Operating cash flow 37.7x 29.1x 25.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 2.86 1.72 0.99

Growth

14 metrics
MetricCTASECLAPG
Revenue growth (1Y) 9.5% 7.1% 14.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 8.7% 4.5% 7.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 11.5% 7.5% 15.4%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 11.2% 9.4% 13.3%
Operating income growth (1Y) 11.8% -1.4% 24.7%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 13.2% 18.4% 27.8%
Net income growth (1Y) 11.3% -1.0% 39.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 14.3% 21.3% 40.8%
EPS growth (1Y) 12.7% 0.2% -272.3%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 15.2% 22.3% -69.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 14.8% 16.5% 20.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 14.4% 13.9% 24.3%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 19.5% 19.1% 18.8%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 17.4% 12.2% 28.9%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricCTASECLAPG
Gross margin 51.0% 44.1% 31.4%
EBITDA margin 27.8% 23.1% 11.2%
Operating margin 23.4% 16.9% 7.2%
Pretax margin 22.5% 15.6% 5.5%
Net margin 17.8% 12.6% -2.9%
FCF margin 17.6% 11.1% 8.0%
Operating cash flow margin 21.1% 18.1% 9.3%
Return on equity 39.8% 21.2% 9.9%
Return on assets 19.5% 7.8% 3.7%
Return on invested capital 28.2% 11.0% 6.7%
Return on capital employed 34.2% 13.3% 8.7%
Asset turnover 1.1x 0.6x 0.9x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 1.4x 2.3x
Stock comp / revenue 1.1% 0.8% 0.5%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricCTASECLAPG
Debt / assets 22.8% 44.0% 35.4%
Debt / equity 0.5x 1.3x 1.0x
Net debt / EBITDA 0.7x 2.1x 2.8x
Debt / FCF 1.2x 7.0x 5.2x
Liabilities / assets 51.1% 66.3% 64.7%
Equity / assets 48.9% 33.7% 35.3%
Interest coverage 25.3x 17.6x 4.3x
Current ratio 1.5x 1.8x 1.4x
Quick ratio 0.7x 1.5x 1.3x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.9x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 13.68 4.15 2.85

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricCTASECLAPG
Dividend yield 0.8% 1.0% –
Net buyback yield 1.1% 1.3% 0.4%
Shareholder yield 2.0% 2.3% 0.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) 35.2% 37.4% –
Payout ratio (FCF) 35.6% 42.6% –
Dividend growth (1Y) 14.8% 13.4% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 15.5% 9.3% –

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.

ConsensusCTASECLAPG
Forward P/E 38.3xFY2026 36.5xFY2026 23.3xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $5.85FY2026 $7.90FY2026 $1.69FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +18.4%FY2026 +4.9%FY2026 +14.2%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +10.4% +23.3% +16.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $12.98BFY2026 $17.24BFY2026 $9.25BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +15.3%FY2026 +7.2%FY2026 +16.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +6.8% +5.4% +8.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersCTASECLAPG
Held by institutions 67.6% 80.0% 84.5%
Institutions holding 1,428 1,710 581
Change in shares held, QoQ +6.4% +1.4% +5.1%
Institutions buying 656 762 306
Institutions selling 575 679 205
Buyers to sellers 1.14 1.12 1.49

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.

CTASECLAPG
CTAS 1.00 0.41 0.11
ECL 0.41 1.00 0.31
APG 0.11 0.31 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, CTAS, ECL and APG?

Cintas (CTAS) is the largest by market capitalisation: Cintas (CTAS) $90.42B, Ecolab (ECL) $81.05B, APi (APG) $17.43B.

Which stock is cheaper, CTAS, ECL and APG?

Ecolab (ECL) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Cintas (CTAS) 43.9x, Ecolab (ECL) 38.3x, APi (APG) -70.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, APi (APG) is cheapest (Cintas (CTAS) 38.3x, Ecolab (ECL) 36.5x, APi (APG) 23.3x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

APi (APG) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Cintas (CTAS) +9.5%, Ecolab (ECL) +7.1%, APi (APG) +14.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Cintas (CTAS) has the highest net margin (Cintas (CTAS) 17.8%, Ecolab (ECL) 12.6%, APi (APG) -2.9%). On return on invested capital, Cintas (CTAS) leads (Cintas (CTAS) 28.2%, Ecolab (ECL) 11.0%, APi (APG) 6.7%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Cintas (CTAS) returned the most: Cintas (CTAS) +16.5%, Ecolab (ECL) +4.9%, APi (APG) +14.3%. Over five years, APi (APG) compounded fastest (Cintas (CTAS) +16.0%/yr, Ecolab (ECL) +5.4%/yr, APi (APG) +22.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Ecolab (ECL) has the highest dividend yield: Cintas (CTAS) 0.01%, Ecolab (ECL) 0.01%, APi (APG) 0.00%. APi (APG) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Ecolab (ECL) has been the steadiest (Cintas (CTAS) 23.3%, Ecolab (ECL) 21.9%, APi (APG) 30.0%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, CTAS, ECL and APG?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Cintas (CTAS) leads on 5. 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.