Mueller Industries, Inc. MLI

Competitive advantage analysis · industrials

Corporate Default
Overall moat score
83/100
Strong

About Mueller Industries, Inc.

Mueller Industries, Inc. manufactures and sells copper, brass, and aluminum products in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Asia and the Middle East, and Mexico. It operates through three segments: Piping Systems, Industrial Metals, and Climate. The Piping Systems segment offers copper tubes, fittings, line sets, and pipe nipples; resells steel pipe, brass and plastic plumbing valves, malleable iron … Full MLI analysis →

Competitive advantage assessment

Key strengths

  • Margins Stable Across Cycles Operating margin volatility is low (stability score 0.89), demonstrating pricing resilience across cycles.
  • Strong Interest Coverage & Conservative Leverage Debt serviceability is strong (score 0.92), with robust interest coverage.

Key risks

  • Revenue Volatility Signals Weak Stickiness Revenue volatility is high (stability score 0.37), suggesting weak customer stickiness.

The dashed ring is the peer median. Defense scores are percentile ranks against peers, so 50 is roughly the typical company in this group.

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Pricing Power

Strong
87

Where MLI ranks in Metal Fabrication

Mueller Industries, Inc. ranks #1 of 20 scored companies in Metal Fabrication by moat score — the top 5%. That makes it the widest moat in the group.

Moat scores for companies ranked near MLI in Metal Fabrication
# Company Moat score Rating
1 Mueller Industries, Inc. MLI 83/100 Strong
2 CompoSecure, Inc. CMPO 76/100 Strong
3 Carpenter Technology Corporatio CRS 75/100 Strong
4 Northwest Pipe Company NWPX 72/100 Moderate
5 ESAB Corporation ESAB 71/100 Moderate
6 CompoSecure, Inc. CMPOW 70/100 Moderate
7 ATI Inc. ATI 70/100 Moderate
8 Proto Labs, Inc. PRLB 63/100 Moderate
9 Worthington Enterprises, Inc. WOR 56/100 Moderate

See every General Corporate company ranked by moat score →

How MLI scores on the Corporate Default defenses

Pricing Power

Score 87 · 20% of the moat score

Pricing power is the ability to raise prices without losing volume.

Cost Advantage

Score 97 · 15% of the moat score

A cost advantage means delivering the same product for structurally less — better purchasing, denser distribution, a more automated process.

Customer Stickiness

Score 64 · 15% of the moat score

Stickiness is what makes revenue repeat without being re-won every year.

Capital Efficiency

Score 78 · 18% of the moat score

Capital efficiency asks what the company earns on the money tied up in the business.

Resilience

Score 94 · 17% of the moat score

Resilience is the capacity to get through a bad year on its own terms — enough liquidity, enough interest cover, and enough cash generation to avoid a rescue financing or a forced sale.

Scale & Market Position

Score 79 · 15% of the moat score

Scale matters only when it converts into economics.

How each Corporate Default defense is measured, in full →

Understanding MLI's moat

What is Mueller Industries, Inc.'s moat score?

Mueller Industries, Inc. (MLI) scores 82 out of 100 on the StatsAlpha Moat Map, which rates its competitive advantage as strong. It ranks #1 of 20 scored companies in Metal Fabrication, the top 5%. The score is a weighted composite of 6 competitive defenses, each measured against industry peers of 19 companies in Metal Fabrication. Its strongest defense is Cost Advantage (97/100) and its weakest is Customer Stickiness (64/100).

How does Mueller Industries, Inc. compare with other Metal Fabrication companies?

Mueller Industries, Inc. ranks #1 of 20 scored companies in Metal Fabrication by moat score. That is the widest moat in Metal Fabrication. The companies ranked closest are CompoSecure, Inc. (CMPO) at 76 just below it.

How is the moat score calculated?

Each company is scored with an industry-specific template — Corporate Default in this case, chosen because the defenses that matter to a bank are not the ones that matter to a software company. Every defense combines several financial signals, and each signal is measured as a percentile against a peer group of 19 companies in Metal Fabrication. The defenses are then weighted to produce the overall score out of 100.

Why is Mueller Industries, Inc. scored with the Corporate Default template?

Most public companies sell a product or a service at a margin, so the moat question is whether that margin survives contact with competitors. The Corporate template scores the six defenses that show up in a general operating company's financial signature: whether it can hold price, produce more cheaply than rivals, keep its customers, earn a return above its cost of capital, withstand a downturn, and turn size into economics.

Which competitive defenses are measured for Mueller Industries, Inc.?

The Corporate Default template measures 6 defenses, and MLI scores: Pricing Power (87), Cost Advantage (97), Customer Stickiness (64), Capital Efficiency (78), Resilience (94), Scale & Market Position (79). Each is scored independently as a percentile against peers, so a company can be strong on one and weak on another — the overall score reflects how those defenses are weighted for this industry.

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