ECL vs NWPX vs CDZI Stock Comparison

Ecolab, NWPX Infrastructure and Cadiz Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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ECL Ecolab Inc.
$300.86 +8.3% 1M +16.9% 1Y
Market cap
$84.98B
P/E
40.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$17.37B
Div. yield
0.01%
Water Treatment Industrials
3 wins
CDZI Cadiz Inc
$4.71 +31.6% 1M -14.5% 1Y
Market cap
$374.45M
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$14.34M
Div. yield
–
Water Treatment Industrials

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

NWPX Infrastructure leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (NWPX Infrastructure 8, Ecolab 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionECLNWPXCDZILeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $84.98B $939.22M $374.45M ECL
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 40.8x 17.6x -9.1x NWPX
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 38.1x 18.9x — NWPX
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +9.3% +15.9% -4.8% NWPX
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 12.0% 8.9% -286.1% ECL
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 10.0% 12.5% — NWPX
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 3.1x 0.2x — NWPX
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +16.9% +76.0% -14.5% NWPX
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +6.3%/yr +32.8%/yr -5.0%/yr NWPX
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 21.2% 40.0% 66.6% ECL
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 64/100 80/100 23/100 NWPX

Percentile Scorecard

ECLNWPXCDZI

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

AxisECLNWPXCDZI
Valuation 50 #11 of 21 100 #1 of 21 15 #18 of 21
Growth 83 #4 of 19 94 #2 of 19 39 #12 of 19
Profitability 93 #2 of 16 80 #4 of 16 20 #13 of 16
Financial Health 25 #16 of 21 70 #7 of 21 20 #17 of 21
Shareholder Returns 67 #4 of 10 56 #5 of 10 –
Overall 64 80 23
  • ECL ranked among 22 companies in Environmental Equipment
  • NWPX ranked among 22 companies in Environmental Equipment
  • CDZI ranked among 22 companies in Environmental Equipment

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodECLNWPXCDZISPY
1 month +8.3%-4.3%+31.6% +0.7%
3 months +7.7%-22.8%+50.0% +3.7%
6 months +15.4%-0.3%+8.8% +7.1%
Year to date +14.6%+56.8%-16.0% +12.8%
1 year +16.9%+76.0%-14.5% +11.9%
3 years +89.0%+253.8%+60.2% +85.2%
3 years, per year +23.7%+52.4%+17.0% +22.8%
5 years +35.4%+312.5%-22.4% +67.6%
5 years, per year +6.3%+32.8%-5.0% +10.9%
10 years +161.4%+647.0%-36.8% +262.0%
10 years, per year +10.1%+22.3%-4.5% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureECLNWPXCDZISPY
Volatility, 1Y 21.2%40.0%66.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 20.4%34.4%64.2% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.481.301.44 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.791.90-0.22 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -44.3%-35.8%-75.0% -25.4%
From 52-week high -2.4%-34.6%-31.9% -1.2%
52-week high $308.35$149.94$6.92 $779.14
52-week low $245.73$53.85$2.98 $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.

MultipleECLNWPXCDZI
P/E now vs peer median 40.5xmedian 25.4x 17.7xmedian 25.4x -9.7xmedian 25.4x
P/S now vs peer median 4.9xmedian 2.5x 1.6xmedian 2.5x 27.6xmedian 2.5x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 24.3xmedian 17.9x 10.3xmedian 17.9x —median 17.9x
P/FCF now vs peer median 47.0xmedian 22.3x 10.9xmedian 22.3x —median 22.3x
P/B now vs peer median 8.1xmedian 1.8x 2.2xmedian 1.8x 85.0xmedian 1.8x
PEG now vs peer median 2.04median 1.73 0.54median 1.73 2.30median 1.73

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 monthsECLNWPXCDZI
Revenue $17.37B $602.76M $14.34M
Gross profit $7.63B $125.97M $4.25M
Operating income $2.90B $71.15M -$26.90M
Net income $2.10B $53.48M -$35.98M
Free cash flow $1.80B $86.83M –
EPS (diluted) $7.38 $5.45 $-1,199.69
Cash & equivalents $722.30M $6.06M $5.32M
Total debt $13.19B $21.50M $278.50M
Shares (diluted) 282.10M 9.81M 34.19K
Enterprise value $77.95B $897.31M $342.90M

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
MetricECLNWPXCDZI
P/E 40.5x 17.7x -9.7x
P/FCF 47.0x 10.9x –
P/Operating cash flow 27.9x 8.8x –
P/S 4.9x 1.6x 27.6x
P/B 8.1x 2.2x 85.0x
P/Tangible book 15.8x 2.3x 85.0x
EV/EBITDA 24.3x 10.3x –
EV/EBIT 33.4x 13.5x -17.8x
EV/Revenue 5.6x 1.6x 33.3x
EV/FCF 54.0x 11.0x –
EV/Operating cash flow 32.0x 9.0x –
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 2.04 0.54 2.30

Growth

14 metrics
MetricECLNWPXCDZI
Revenue growth (1Y) 9.3% 15.9% -4.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 4.9% 11.0% 89.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 8.4% 26.8% -12.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 8.8% 16.2% 97.5%
Operating income growth (1Y) 11.3% 47.2% -8.9%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 17.2% 25.2% -12.0%
Net income growth (1Y) 4.7% 46.0% -9.9%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 18.8% 31.4% -4.9%
EPS growth (1Y) 6.2% 46.1% -8.4%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 19.8% 32.7% -4.2%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 15.2% 58.5% –
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 7.8% 43.1% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 15.6% 80.1% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 1.8% 92.6% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricECLNWPXCDZI
Gross margin 43.9% 20.9% 29.6%
EBITDA margin 22.9% 15.4% –
Operating margin 16.7% 11.8% -187.6%
Pretax margin 15.0% 11.4% -250.5%
Net margin 12.0% 8.9% -286.1%
FCF margin 10.3% 14.4% –
Operating cash flow margin 17.4% 17.7% –
Return on equity 20.4% 12.5% -257.3%
Return on assets 6.9% 7.9% -26.1%
Return on invested capital 10.0% 12.5% –
Return on capital employed 12.0% 12.9% -21.0%
Asset turnover 0.6x 0.9x 0.1x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x 2.0x –
Stock comp / revenue 0.8% 1.2% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricECLNWPXCDZI
Debt / assets 42.4% 3.1% 64.5%
Debt / equity 1.3x 0.0x 18.6x
Net debt / EBITDA 3.1x 0.2x –
Debt / FCF 7.3x 0.2x –
Liabilities / assets 66.4% 37.0% 96.5%
Equity / assets 33.6% 63.0% 3.5%
Interest coverage 8.0x 48.6x -2.9x
Current ratio 1.1x 2.6x 1.2x
Quick ratio 0.7x 1.8x 0.9x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.0x 0.5x
Altman Z-score 3.96 4.40 -6.11

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricECLNWPXCDZI
Dividend yield 1.0% – –
Net buyback yield 1.1% 0.7% –
Shareholder yield 2.1% 0.7% –
Payout ratio (earnings) 39.0% – –
Payout ratio (FCF) 45.6% – –
Dividend growth (1Y) 12.7% – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 9.7% – –

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.

ConsensusECLNWPXCDZI
Forward P/E 38.1xFY2026 18.9xFY2026 –
EPS, next fiscal year $7.90FY2026 $5.19FY2026 $-0.54FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +4.9%FY2026 +45.8%FY2026 –
EPS growth, the year after +23.2% -7.5% –
Revenue, next fiscal year $17.26BFY2026 $573.90MFY2026 $8.61MFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +7.3%FY2026 +9.1%FY2026 -47.2%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +5.4% +3.8% +109.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersECLNWPXCDZI
Held by institutions 80.0% 89.5% 46.7%
Institutions holding 1,712 225 117
Change in shares held, QoQ +1.4% +4.6% +4.0%
Institutions buying 764 125 54
Institutions selling 679 65 39
Buyers to sellers 1.13 1.92 1.38

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.

ECLNWPXCDZI
ECL 1.00 0.22 0.10
NWPX 0.22 1.00 0.18
CDZI 0.10 0.18 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ECL, NWPX and CDZI?

Ecolab (ECL) is the largest by market capitalisation: Ecolab (ECL) $84.98B, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) $939.22M, Cadiz (CDZI) $374.45M.

Which stock is cheaper, ECL, NWPX and CDZI?

NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Ecolab (ECL) 40.8x, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) 17.6x, Cadiz (CDZI) -9.1x). On next year's consensus earnings, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) is cheapest (Ecolab (ECL) 38.1x, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) 18.9x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Ecolab (ECL) +9.3%, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) +15.9%, Cadiz (CDZI) -4.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

Ecolab (ECL) has the highest net margin (Ecolab (ECL) 12.0%, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) 8.9%, Cadiz (CDZI) -286.1%). On return on invested capital, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) leads (Ecolab (ECL) 10.0%, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) 12.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) returned the most: Ecolab (ECL) +16.9%, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) +76.0%, Cadiz (CDZI) -14.5%. Over five years, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) compounded fastest (Ecolab (ECL) +6.3%/yr, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) +32.8%/yr, Cadiz (CDZI) -5.0%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Ecolab (ECL) 0.01%, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) 0.00%, Cadiz (CDZI) 0.00%. NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) and Cadiz (CDZI) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Ecolab (ECL) has been the steadiest (Ecolab (ECL) 21.2%, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) 40.0%, Cadiz (CDZI) 66.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ECL, NWPX and CDZI?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, NWPX Infrastructure (NWPX) leads on 8. 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.