How Is Pentair’s Stock Performance Compared to Other Water Stocks?

London, U.K.-based Pentair plc (PNR) is a water treatment company, providing various water solutions, operating through Flow, Water Solutions, and Pool segments. With a market cap of $16.9 billion, Pentair delivers a range of smart and sustainable water solutions to homes, business and industry enabling its customers to access clean water, reduce water consumption, as well as recover and reuse it.

Companies worth $10 billion or more are generally described as “large-cap stocks,” Pentair fits right into that category, with its market cap exceeding this threshold, reflecting its substantial size, influence, and dominance in the water treatment space.

Pentair recently touched its all-time high of $110.71 on Nov. 27 and is currently trading 7.5% below that peak. Furthermore, PNR gained over 5% in the past three months, outperforming the First Trust Water ETF’s (FIW) 4.4% decline during the same time frame.

Over the longer term, Pentair’s performance looks even more appealing. PNR surged 36.5% over the past six months and 41.1% over the past 52 weeks, significantly outpacing FIW’s 3.7% gains over the past six months and 8.9% returns over the past year.

To confirm the bullish trend, PNR has traded consistently above its 200-day moving average over the past year and mostly above its 50-day moving average since mid-July with minor fluctuations.

Despite reporting better-than-expected results, shares of Pentair experienced a marginal decline after the release of its Q3 earnings on Oct. 22. The company reported a 1.5% year-over-year decline in net sales to $993.4 million due to the drop in revenues from Flow and Water Solution segments however, the decline was expected, in fact, Pentair surpassed Wall Street’s topline estimates of $990 million. Additionally, due to notable margin expansion, Pentair reported a significant growth in its adjusted operating income, resulting in an impressive 16% surge in adjusted EPS compared to the year-ago quarter, reaching $1.09 and exceeding analysts’ expectations by 1.9%.

Moreover, observing the strong performance during the quarter Pentair raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance to approximately $4.27.

Pentair has substantially outperformed its peer American Water Works Company, Inc.’s (AWK) 2.6% dip over the past six months and a 4.6% decline over the past year.

Among the 19 analysts covering the PNR stock, the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy.” Its mean price target of $113.61 represents a 10.9% premium to current price levels.

On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here. More news from Barchart

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