Last week started on an inauspicious note for industrial parts manufacturer Mueller Industries (NYSE: MLI). Shares ended Monday’s trading session 1% lower than where they had closed on Friday, but it didn’t take long before things turned around. The company reported strong first-quarter 2026 financial results on Tuesday, and Mueller stock quickly headed higher.
According to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, shares of Mueller rose 11.4% from the end of trading last Friday through the close of yesterday’s market session.
Will AI create the world’s first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an “Indispensable Monopoly” providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »
Reporting a 55.3% year-over-year increase, Mueller posted Q1 2026 diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.16, the largest first-quarter profit in company history.
The top of the income statement also provided investors with something to celebrate. Mueller reported Q1 2026 sales of $1.19 billion, a 19% increase over the $1 billion that it reported during the same period in 2025.
Addressing the first-quarter performance in the company’s press release, Greg Christopher, Mueller’s CEO, said, “Solid operational execution, including effective raw material and price management and prudent cost controls, along with our diverse end market portfolio, all contributed to the best first quarter earnings in our Company’s history.”
For those seeking industrial stock opportunities, Mueller may be a reasonable consideration given its strong start to 2026. The company has no debt, and the stock offers a modest 1% forward dividend yield. With shares trading at 17.6 times operating cash flow, though, a premium to their five-year average cash flow multiple of 8.3, investors are better off waiting for a pullback in Mueller stock — or seeking another industrial stock altogether.
Before you buy stock in Mueller Industries, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Mueller Industries wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $498,522!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,276,807!*
