HELE vs MLKMF vs PNR Stock Comparison

Helen Of Troy, Waldencast and Pentair Prices as of Oct 28, 2026 Peers: Industry group
HELE Helen Of Troy Ltd
$29.31 +0.5% 1M +45.5% 1Y
Market cap
$682.85M
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$1.83B
Div. yield
–
Home Appliances Consumer Discretionary
3 wins
MLKMF Waldencast plc
$0.80 -24.5% 1M -57.2% 1Y
Market cap
$91.26M
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
—
Div. yield
–
Cosmetics Consumer Staples
PNR PENTAIR plc
$64.38 +21.4% 1M -40.9% 1Y
Market cap
$10.28B
P/E
16.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.97B
Div. yield
1.68%
Pumps and Valves Industrials
7 wins

Head to Head

10 decided of 12

Pentair leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Pentair 7, Helen Of Troy 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionHELEMLKMFPNRLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $682.85M $91.26M $10.28B PNR
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -6.9x — 16.8x –
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 7.8x — 14.1x HELE
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +0.3% — -3.9% HELE
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -5.4% — 15.4% PNR
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 1.6% — 12.5% PNR
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 8.3x — 1.6x PNR
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield — — 1.68% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +45.5% -57.2% -40.9% HELE
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -33.5%/yr -39.3%/yr -2.7%/yr PNR
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 54.0% 100.9% 36.3% PNR
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 42/100 — 62/100 PNR

Percentile Scorecard

HELEMLKMFPNR

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

AxisHELEMLKMFPNR
Valuation 78 #10 of 41 – 72 #58 of 203
Growth 40 #25 of 41 – 31 #131 of 188
Profitability 47 #21 of 39 – 83 #32 of 184
Financial Health 29 #31 of 43 66 #20 of 56 46 #117 of 217
Shareholder Returns 19 #23 of 28 – 78 #35 of 153
Overall 42 – 62
  • HELE ranked among 44 companies in Household Durables
  • MLKMF ranked among 60 companies in Household and Personal Products
  • PNR ranked among 222 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodHELEMLKMFPNRSPY
1 month +0.5%-24.5%+21.4% +0.9%
3 months +4.1%-50.6%-3.3% +5.9%
6 months +23.0%+5.3%-20.4% +8.5%
Year to date +37.9%-57.4%-38.2% +13.3%
1 year +45.5%-57.2%-40.9% +12.4%
3 years -69.7%-90.9%+11.6% +88.1%
3 years, per year -32.8%-55.1%+3.7% +23.5%
5 years -87.0%-91.8%-13.0% +68.2%
5 years, per year -33.5%-39.3%-2.7% +11.0%
10 years -63.2%—+16.7% +263.4%
10 years, per year -9.5%—+1.6% +13.8%

Risk

MeasureHELEMLKMFPNRSPY
Volatility, 1Y 54.0%100.9%36.3% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 48.3%89.1%40.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.971.330.95 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.84-0.57-1.13 0.98
Max drawdown, 5Y -94.5%-93.5%-53.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high -3.0%-74.0%-40.9% -0.9%
52-week high $30.22$3.08$108.87 $779.14
52-week low $13.88$0.75$52.11 $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.

MultipleHELEMLKMFPNR
P/E now vs peer median -6.9xmedian 15.7x —median 18.4x 16.8xmedian 25.4x
P/S now vs peer median 0.4xmedian 0.7x —median 1.6x 2.6xmedian 1.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 17.0xmedian 9.6x —median 12.8x 13.0xmedian 14.3x
P/FCF now vs peer median 4.6xmedian 11.7x —median 18.7x 15.9xmedian 21.8x
P/B now vs peer median 0.8xmedian 1.1x 0.2xmedian 2.1x 2.7xmedian 2.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.17median 0.62 —median 0.97 2.19median 1.41

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 monthsHELEMLKMFPNR
Revenue $1.83B – $3.97B
Gross profit $864.98M – $1.64B
Operating income $23.94M – $777.40M
Net income -$99.23M – $612.20M
Free cash flow $147.21M – $646.60M
R&D – – $94.10M
EPS (diluted) $-4.11 – $3.82
Cash & equivalents $22.58M $7.82M $74.00M
Total debt $3.17B $631.43M $1.48B
Shares (diluted) 24.15M 114.07M 160.30M
Enterprise value $592.56M $29.29M $9.94B

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
MetricHELEMLKMFPNR
P/E -6.9x – 16.8x
P/FCF 4.6x – 15.9x
P/Operating cash flow 3.8x – 14.2x
P/S 0.4x – 2.6x
P/B 0.8x 0.2x 2.7x
P/Tangible book 1.4x 0.3x 3.6x
EV/EBITDA 17.0x – 13.0x
EV/EBIT 55.7x – 15.0x
EV/Revenue 0.7x – 2.9x
EV/FCF 9.1x – 18.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 7.4x – 16.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.17 – 2.19

Growth

14 metrics
MetricHELEMLKMFPNR
Revenue growth (1Y) 0.3% – -3.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -3.1% – -1.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 0.5% – -1.2%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -1.7% – 3.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) 103.7% – -8.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -52.1% – 4.4%
Net income growth (1Y) 84.9% – -6.4%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -39.6% – 6.3%
EPS growth (1Y) 85.7% – -3.6%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -39.5% – 7.7%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 97.1% – -14.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -25.9% – 6.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 192.7% – -17.4%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -25.7% – 7.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricHELEMLKMFPNR
Gross margin 47.4% – 41.2%
EBITDA margin 4.3% – 22.7%
Operating margin 1.3% – 19.6%
Pretax margin -1.5% – 17.5%
Net margin -5.4% – 15.4%
FCF margin 8.1% – 16.3%
Operating cash flow margin 9.8% – 18.3%
Return on equity -11.7% – 16.1%
Return on assets -4.8% – 9.2%
Return on invested capital 1.6% – 12.5%
Return on capital employed 1.5% – 13.5%
Asset turnover 0.9x – 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) -1.8x – 1.2x
Stock comp / revenue 1.0% – 0.8%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricHELEMLKMFPNR
Debt / assets 32.1% 23.1% 22.3%
Debt / equity 0.8x 0.4x 0.4x
Net debt / EBITDA 8.3x – 1.6x
Debt / FCF 4.6x – 2.3x
Liabilities / assets 59.3% 39.5% 42.1%
Equity / assets 40.7% 60.5% 57.9%
Interest coverage 0.5x – –
Current ratio 1.7x 4.8x 1.5x
Quick ratio 0.7x 0.1x 0.7x
Cash ratio 0.0x 0.1x 0.1x
Altman Z-score 1.74 – 3.92

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricHELEMLKMFPNR
Dividend yield – – 1.7%
Net buyback yield -0.1% – 3.9%
Shareholder yield -0.1% – 5.6%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 28.1%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 26.6%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 6.5%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 6.2%

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.

ConsensusHELEMLKMFPNR
Forward P/E 7.8xFY2026 – 14.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.74FY2026 $-0.51FY2026 $4.55FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +5.4%FY2026 – -7.5%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +13.9% – +17.6%
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.76BFY2026 $272.64MFY2026 $3.86BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -1.8%FY2026 +0.2%FY2026 -7.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -2.6% +10.6% +10.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersHELEMLKMFPNR
Held by institutions 96.3% – 95.0%
Institutions holding 198 – 719
Change in shares held, QoQ +5.7% – -0.1%
Institutions buying 120 – 353
Institutions selling 46 – 256
Buyers to sellers 2.61 – 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.

HELEMLKMFPNR
HELE 1.00 0.02 0.25
MLKMF 0.02 1.00 0.05
PNR 0.25 0.05 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, HELE, MLKMF and PNR?

Pentair (PNR) is the largest by market capitalisation: Helen Of Troy (HELE) $682.85M, Waldencast (MLKMF) $91.26M, Pentair (PNR) $10.28B.

Which company is growing faster?

Helen Of Troy (HELE) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Helen Of Troy (HELE) +0.3%, Pentair (PNR) -3.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

Pentair (PNR) has the highest net margin (Helen Of Troy (HELE) -5.4%, Pentair (PNR) 15.4%). On return on invested capital, Pentair (PNR) leads (Helen Of Troy (HELE) 1.6%, Pentair (PNR) 12.5%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Helen Of Troy (HELE) returned the most: Helen Of Troy (HELE) +45.5%, Waldencast (MLKMF) -57.2%, Pentair (PNR) -40.9%. Over five years, Pentair (PNR) compounded fastest (Helen Of Troy (HELE) -33.5%/yr, Waldencast (MLKMF) -39.3%/yr, Pentair (PNR) -2.7%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Pentair (PNR) 1.68%. Helen Of Troy (HELE) and Waldencast (MLKMF) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Pentair (PNR) has been the steadiest (Helen Of Troy (HELE) 54.0%, Waldencast (MLKMF) 100.9%, Pentair (PNR) 36.3%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, HELE, MLKMF and PNR?

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