IEX vs KMT vs WTS Stock Comparison

Idex, Kennametal and Watts Water Technologies Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
IEX Idex Corp /De/
$239.46 +3.9% 1M +38.1% 1Y
Market cap
$17.26B
P/E
32.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.66B
Div. yield
0.01%
Pumps and Valves Industrials
4 wins
KMT Kennametal Inc
$30.18 -2.7% 1M +31.8% 1Y
Market cap
$2.20B
P/E
6.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.36B
Div. yield
0.03%
Power Tools Industrials
4 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Idex leads on 4 of the 12 questions below (Idex 4, Kennametal 4, Watts Water Technologies 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionIEXKMTWTSLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $17.26B $2.20B $11.64B IEX
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 32.2x 6.4x 30.3x KMT
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 26.2x 5.7x 26.5x KMT
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +6.9% +19.8% +17.1% KMT
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 14.6% 14.5% 14.3% IEX
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 10.0% 16.5% 16.8% WTS
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.2x 1.0x -0.4x WTS
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.01% 0.03% 0.01% KMT
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +38.1% +31.8% +28.5% IEX
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +1.5%/yr -5.4%/yr +13.1%/yr WTS
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 22.0% 44.3% 27.8% IEX
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 58/100 65/100 71/100 WTS

Percentile Scorecard

IEXKMTWTS

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

AxisIEXKMTWTS
Valuation 37 #128 of 203 73 #56 of 203 33 #137 of 203
Growth 43 #107 of 188 76 #46 of 188 79 #41 of 188
Profitability 90 #19 of 183 69 #58 of 183 92 #15 of 183
Financial Health 72 #62 of 216 51 #107 of 216 89 #25 of 216
Shareholder Returns 47 #81 of 152 56 #68 of 152 62 #59 of 152
Overall 58 65 71
  • IEX ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • KMT ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • WTS ranked among 222 companies in Machinery

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodIEXKMTWTSSPY
1 month +3.9%-2.7%-2.0% +0.7%
3 months +2.4%-9.4%+1.9% +3.7%
6 months +9.9%-22.0%+16.9% +7.1%
Year to date +34.6%+6.2%+27.1% +12.8%
1 year +38.1%+31.8%+28.5% +11.9%
3 years +25.7%+31.2%+104.3% +85.2%
3 years, per year +7.9%+9.5%+26.9% +22.8%
5 years +7.6%-24.1%+84.7% +67.6%
5 years, per year +1.5%-5.4%+13.1% +10.9%
10 years +177.8%+9.3%+485.3% +262.0%
10 years, per year +10.8%+0.9%+19.3% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureIEXKMTWTSSPY
Volatility, 1Y 22.0%44.3%27.8% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 19.9%42.0%26.3% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.691.310.89 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 1.730.721.02 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -35.9%-57.4%-44.4% -25.4%
From 52-week high -0.4%-30.3%-10.5% -1.2%
52-week high $240.52$43.27$392.27 $779.14
52-week low $161.68$21.95$263.55 $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.

MultipleIEXKMTWTS
P/E now vs peer median 32.9xmedian 25.8x 6.7xmedian 25.8x 30.6xmedian 25.8x
P/S now vs peer median 4.8xmedian 1.9x 1.0xmedian 1.9x 4.4xmedian 1.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 19.2xmedian 14.6x 4.7xmedian 14.6x 19.2xmedian 14.6x
P/FCF now vs peer median 26.4xmedian 22.2x -28.4xmedian 22.2x 33.5xmedian 22.2x
P/B now vs peer median 4.4xmedian 2.2x 1.4xmedian 2.2x 5.4xmedian 2.2x
PEG now vs peer median -8.64median 1.45 0.15median 1.45 2.38median 1.45

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 monthsIEXKMTWTS
Revenue $3.66B $2.36B $2.68B
Gross profit $1.64B $969.96M $1.31B
Operating income $763.90M $472.53M $512.10M
Net income $535.80M $350.41M $383.80M
Free cash flow $667.10M -$80.91M $349.40M
EPS (diluted) $7.24 $4.42 $11.46
Cash & equivalents $602.10M $95.79M $347.90M
Total debt $1.75B $717.45M $108.00M
Shares (diluted) 74.00M 77.42M 33.50M
Enterprise value $14.87B $1.76B $10.05B

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
MetricIEXKMTWTS
P/E 32.9x 6.7x 30.6x
P/FCF 26.4x -28.4x 33.5x
P/Operating cash flow 23.4x -573.9x 29.4x
P/S 4.8x 1.0x 4.4x
P/B 4.4x 1.4x 5.4x
P/Tangible book 6.1x 1.5x 6.1x
EV/EBITDA 19.2x 4.7x 19.2x
EV/EBIT 24.5x 6.2x 22.4x
EV/Revenue 5.1x 1.2x 4.3x
EV/FCF 28.1x -36.1x 32.8x
EV/Operating cash flow 24.9x -729.0x 28.8x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -8.64 0.15 2.38

Growth

14 metrics
MetricIEXKMTWTS
Revenue growth (1Y) 6.9% 19.8% 17.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 3.5% 4.3% 10.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 8.1% 62.2% 18.0%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 4.1% 14.5% 13.0%
Operating income growth (1Y) 12.2% 230.2% 26.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 0.7% 34.9% 15.5%
Net income growth (1Y) 12.1% 255.0% 23.2%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -4.6% 41.6% 12.7%
EPS growth (1Y) 13.9% 269.9% 23.2%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -3.8% 44.8% 12.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 17.0% -101.9% 12.1%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 3.3% -26.3% 12.5%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 14.2% -167.8% 10.3%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 3.9% -35.6% 11.4%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricIEXKMTWTS
Gross margin 44.9% 41.2% 48.9%
EBITDA margin 26.7% 26.1% 22.3%
Operating margin 20.9% 20.1% 19.1%
Pretax margin 19.2% 19.6% 19.0%
Net margin 14.6% 14.5% 14.3%
FCF margin 18.2% -3.4% 13.1%
Operating cash flow margin 20.6% -0.2% 14.9%
Return on equity 13.4% 23.3% 17.9%
Return on assets 7.8% 11.9% 13.0%
Return on invested capital 10.0% 16.5% 16.8%
Return on capital employed 12.2% 20.8% 21.1%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.8x 0.9x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x 0.0x 1.0x
Stock comp / revenue 0.9% 1.5% 0.9%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricIEXKMTWTS
Debt / assets 25.5% 22.7% 3.7%
Debt / equity 0.4x 0.4x 0.0x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.2x 1.0x -0.4x
Debt / FCF 2.6x -8.9x 0.3x
Liabilities / assets 41.6% 49.1% 25.8%
Equity / assets 58.4% 50.9% 74.2%
Interest coverage – 16.5x 50.2x
Current ratio 2.8x 2.6x 2.7x
Quick ratio 1.8x 0.7x 1.5x
Cash ratio 0.9x 0.1x 0.7x
Altman Z-score 5.75 3.20 11.80

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricIEXKMTWTS
Dividend yield 1.2% 2.7% 0.7%
Net buyback yield 1.7% 0.8% 0.1%
Shareholder yield 2.9% 3.4% 0.8%
Payout ratio (earnings) 39.9% 17.4% 19.2%
Payout ratio (FCF) 32.1% -75.2% 21.1%
Dividend growth (1Y) 1.0% -1.6% 21.2%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 4.5% -1.9% 20.1%

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.

ConsensusIEXKMTWTS
Forward P/E 26.2xFY2026 5.7xFY2027 26.5xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $9.14FY2026 $5.25FY2027 $13.22FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +15.0%FY2026 +14.9%FY2027 +25.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +12.0% -57.9% +13.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $3.93BFY2026 $3.22BFY2027 $3.02BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +13.7%FY2026 +36.5%FY2027 +23.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +3.0% +13.7% -5.1%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersIEXKMTWTS
Held by institutions 100.0% 100.0% 80.9%
Institutions holding 687 337 580
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.1% +2.5% +1.9%
Institutions buying 351 198 295
Institutions selling 202 95 187
Buyers to sellers 1.74 2.08 1.58

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.

IEXKMTWTS
IEX 1.00 0.44 0.42
KMT 0.44 1.00 0.38
WTS 0.42 0.38 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, IEX, KMT and WTS?

Idex (IEX) is the largest by market capitalisation: Idex (IEX) $17.26B, Kennametal (KMT) $2.20B, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) $11.64B.

Which stock is cheaper, IEX, KMT and WTS?

Kennametal (KMT) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Idex (IEX) 32.2x, Kennametal (KMT) 6.4x, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) 30.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Kennametal (KMT) is cheapest (Idex (IEX) 26.2x, Kennametal (KMT) 5.7x, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) 26.5x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Kennametal (KMT) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Idex (IEX) +6.9%, Kennametal (KMT) +19.8%, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) +17.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Idex (IEX) has the highest net margin (Idex (IEX) 14.6%, Kennametal (KMT) 14.5%, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) 14.3%). On return on invested capital, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) leads (Idex (IEX) 10.0%, Kennametal (KMT) 16.5%, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) 16.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Idex (IEX) returned the most: Idex (IEX) +38.1%, Kennametal (KMT) +31.8%, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) +28.5%. Over five years, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) compounded fastest (Idex (IEX) +1.5%/yr, Kennametal (KMT) -5.4%/yr, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) +13.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Kennametal (KMT) has the highest dividend yield: Idex (IEX) 0.01%, Kennametal (KMT) 0.03%, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) 0.01%.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Idex (IEX) has been the steadiest (Idex (IEX) 22.0%, Kennametal (KMT) 44.3%, Watts Water Technologies (WTS) 27.8%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, IEX, KMT and WTS?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Idex (IEX) leads on 4. 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.