MSA vs RELX Stock Comparison

MSA Safety and Relx Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
MSA MSA Safety Inc
$182.59 +0.1% 1M +8.6% 1Y
Market cap
$6.94B
P/E
22.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.95B
Div. yield
–
Power Tools Industrials
3 wins
RELX Relx Plc
$40.17 +19.9% 1M -13.7% 1Y
Market cap
$71.51B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
—
Div. yield
–
Analytics and BI Technology
2 wins

Head to Head

5 decided of 12

MSA Safety leads on 3 of the 12 questions below (MSA Safety 3, Relx 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionMSARELXLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $6.94B $71.51B RELX
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 22.1x — –
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 19.6x 22.2x MSA
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +6.5% — –
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 16.1% — –
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 15.9% — –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.8x — –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +8.6% -13.7% MSA
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +3.7%/yr +5.3%/yr RELX
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 25.5% 35.3% MSA
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 77/100 — –

Percentile Scorecard

MSARELX

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

AxisMSARELX
Valuation 55 #91 of 203 –
Growth 86 #27 of 187 –
Profitability 97 #7 of 185 –
Financial Health 76 #53 of 219 19 #89 of 109
Shareholder Returns 73 #42 of 153 52 #31 of 64
Overall 77 –
  • MSA ranked among 222 companies in Machinery
  • RELX ranked among 115 companies in Business Applications

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodMSARELXSPY
1 month +0.1%+19.9% -0.8%
3 months +4.0%+12.7% +3.5%
6 months +6.8%+10.4% +7.0%
Year to date +14.0%-0.6% +12.2%
1 year +8.6%-13.7% +13.0%
3 years +15.9%+17.9% +86.3%
3 years, per year +5.0%+5.6% +23.1%
5 years +20.0%+29.7% +68.6%
5 years, per year +3.7%+5.3% +11.0%
10 years +228.8%+126.3% +258.0%
10 years, per year +12.6%+8.5% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureMSARELXSPY
Volatility, 1Y 25.5%35.3% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 24.1%36.0% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.820.20 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.34-0.39 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -34.9%-50.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -10.1%-13.9% -1.8%
52-week high $203.08$46.64 $779.14
52-week low $152.94$27.73 $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.

MultipleMSARELX
P/E now vs peer median 22.5xmedian 26.0x —median 28.8x
P/S now vs peer median 3.6xmedian 1.9x —median 2.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 15.3xmedian 14.0x —median 17.7x
P/FCF now vs peer median 19.9xmedian 21.4x —median 15.8x
P/B now vs peer median 5.0xmedian 2.2x 43.9xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median 0.12median 1.26 —median 0.85

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 monthsMSARELX
Revenue $1.95B –
Gross profit $925.88M –
Operating income $413.17M –
Net income $314.01M –
Free cash flow $354.30M –
R&D $68.19M –
EPS (diluted) $8.11 –
Cash & equivalents $200.06M $291.59M
Total debt $599.74M $3.11B
Shares (diluted) 38.70M 1.84B
Enterprise value $6.22B $70.61B

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
MetricMSARELX
P/E 22.5x –
P/FCF 19.9x –
P/Operating cash flow 17.4x –
P/S 3.6x –
P/B 5.0x 43.9x
P/Tangible book 6.3x -29.7x
EV/EBITDA 15.3x –
EV/EBIT 18.0x –
EV/Revenue 3.8x –
EV/FCF 21.0x –
EV/Operating cash flow 18.4x –
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.12 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricMSARELX
Revenue growth (1Y) 6.5% –
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 5.2% –
Gross profit growth (1Y) 8.2% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 6.7% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 10.8% –
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 34.5% –
Net income growth (1Y) 13.4% –
Net income CAGR (3Y) 186.8% –
EPS growth (1Y) 15.3% –
EPS CAGR (3Y) 188.5% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 26.3% –
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 96.0% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 40.3% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 72.1% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricMSARELX
Gross margin 47.6% –
EBITDA margin 25.1% –
Operating margin 21.2% –
Pretax margin 21.1% –
Net margin 16.1% –
FCF margin 18.2% –
Operating cash flow margin 20.9% –
Return on equity 22.8% –
Return on assets 12.2% –
Return on invested capital 15.9% –
Return on capital employed 18.0% –
Asset turnover 0.8x –
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.3x –
Stock comp / revenue 1.0% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricMSARELX
Debt / assets 23.1% 15.6%
Debt / equity 0.4x 1.9x
Net debt / EBITDA 0.8x –
Debt / FCF 1.7x –
Liabilities / assets 46.1% 91.7%
Equity / assets 53.9% 8.3%
Interest coverage 12.7x –
Current ratio 3.2x –
Quick ratio 1.9x 0.4x
Cash ratio 0.7x 0.0x
Altman Z-score 5.99 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricMSARELX
Dividend yield 1.2% 2.3%
Net buyback yield 1.8% –
Shareholder yield 2.9% 2.3%
Payout ratio (earnings) – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – –

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.

ConsensusMSARELX
Forward P/E 19.6xFY2026 22.2xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $9.33FY2026 $1.81FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +17.7%FY2026 +3.4%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +3.4% +19.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.98BFY2026 $13.79BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +5.2%FY2026 +5.4%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +19.6% +0.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersMSARELX
Held by institutions 91.0% 4.7%
Institutions holding 457 439
Change in shares held, QoQ +3.0% +0.2%
Institutions buying 236 220
Institutions selling 147 157
Buyers to sellers 1.61 1.40

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.

MSARELX
MSA 1.00 -0.01
RELX -0.01 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, MSA and RELX?

Relx (RELX) is the largest by market capitalisation: MSA Safety (MSA) $6.94B, Relx (RELX) $71.51B.

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year MSA Safety (MSA) returned the most: MSA Safety (MSA) +8.6%, Relx (RELX) -13.7%. Over five years, Relx (RELX) compounded fastest (MSA Safety (MSA) +3.7%/yr, Relx (RELX) +5.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, MSA Safety (MSA) has been the steadiest (MSA Safety (MSA) 25.5%, Relx (RELX) 35.3%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do MSA and RELX move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of -0.01, a negative relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, MSA and RELX?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, MSA Safety (MSA) leads on 3. 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.