A. O. Smith Corporation vs WHIRLPOOL CORP /DE/, two Appliances stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Water heaters earn A.O. Smith a 28.1% return on equity and 13.84 cents of profit per sales dollar. Whirlpool, a much larger name in refrigerators and washers by unit volume, earns 4.36% on equity on a 1.09% margin, and its free cash has gone negative. The market prices the gap without subtlety: A.O. Smith at 4.57 times book, Whirlpool at 0.61, below the value of its own net assets. Whirlpool's 13.61% dividend yield reads less like generosity and more like a stock the market has marked down hard. Debt runs 0.33 at A.O. Smith and 1.62 at Whirlpool. One balance sheet has room; the other is stretched.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | AOS | WHR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $60.44 | $40.73 |
| Market cap | $8.4B | $2.4B |
| Sector | Appliances | Appliances |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +1.0% | — |
| P/E | 16.1 | 13.8 |
| P/B | 4.48 | 0.64 |
| P/S | 2.21 | 0.16 |
| EV/EBITDA | 11.1 | 7.7 |
| Revenue growth | +0.3% | -3.7% |
| Gross margin | 38.7% | 12.7% |
| Operating margin | 17.1% | 0.6% |
| Net margin | 13.8% | 1.1% |
| Return on equity | 28.1% | 4.4% |
| Return on assets | 14.4% | 1.0% |
| Return on invested capital | 21.6% | 5.3% |
| FCF yield | 7.7% | -0.9% |
| Dividend yield | 2.3% | 13.0% |
| Debt / equity | 0.33 | 1.62 |
| Current ratio | 1.56 | 0.88 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 5.74 | 6.99 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 3 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.