Top Industrials Stocks by Return on Assets
Top industrials companies ranked by return on assets, latest annual filings.
What Return on Assets Means for Industrials Companies
Return on assets asks what each dollar of plant, equipment, inventory and receivables earns in profit. Industrials hold most of those dollars in real form, so the ratio is unusually literal here: factories, fleets and working capital sit on the balance sheet close to what they cost, and the earnings they support are visible in the same year. The figure lands in the middle of the market and moves with volume, backlog and pricing.
Why It Matters in Industrials
Because the assets are the business itself, the ratio measures what it claims to, the profit a given production base throws off. Volume does the rest, since fixed costs spread over more units push returns up quickly when demand is strong. That strength is also the trap. A peak-year figure overstates the through-cycle return, and a trough year understates it, so a single year of cyclical earnings flatters or punishes companies that have not changed at all.
What to Read Alongside
Pair return on assets with Return on Equity to separate operating performance from borrowing, Net Margin to see whether price or throughput drives the return, and Total Assets to judge how capital-hungry the model is.
| # | Symbol | Company | Sector | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | SPR | Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. | Industrials | 31.64% | $4.64B |
| 2 | FAST | Fastenal Company | Industrials | 24.90% | $55.99B |
| 3 | MLI | Mueller Industries, Inc. | Industrials | 20.50% | $14.09B |
| 4 | BLBD | Blue Bird Corporation | Industrials | 20.43% | $1.98B |
| 5 | LII | Lennox International Inc. | Industrials | 19.74% | $12.99B |
| 6 | IESC | IES Holdings, Inc. | Industrials | 19.18% | $12.94B |
| 7 | GWW | W.W. Grainger, Inc. | Industrials | 19.04% | $60.23B |
| 8 | CTAS | Cintas Corporation | Industrials | 18.99% | $80.05B |
| 9 | ITW | Illinois Tool Works Inc. | Industrials | 18.99% | $75.18B |
| 10 | ODFL | Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. | Industrials | 18.71% | $37.73B |
| 11 | WNC | Wabash National Corporation | Industrials | 18.05% | $0.53B |
| 12 | AOS | A. O. Smith Corporation | Industrials | 17.38% | $7.86B |
| 13 | EXPD | Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. | Industrials | 16.56% | $24.48B |
| 14 | POWL | Powell Industries, Inc. | Industrials | 16.30% | $6.57B |
| 15 | AWI | Armstrong World Industries, Inc. | Industrials | 16.04% | $7.07B |
| 16 | GGG | Graco Inc. | Industrials | 15.94% | $12.37B |
| 17 | FIX | Comfort Systems USA, Inc. | Industrials | 15.88% | $56.84B |
| 18 | MAS | Masco Corporation | Industrials | 15.57% | $13.68B |
| 19 | CPRT | Copart, Inc. | Industrials | 15.38% | $29.65B |
| 20 | VRSK | Verisk Analytics, Inc. | Industrials | 14.66% | $23.17B |
| 21 | AZZ | AZZ Inc. | Industrials | 14.33% | $4.16B |
| 22 | CRS | Carpenter Technology Corporation | Industrials | 13.80% | $22.72B |
| 23 | LECO | Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. | Industrials | 13.78% | $14.80B |
| 24 | AIT | Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. | Industrials | 13.77% | $11.92B |
| 25 | EME | EMCOR Group, Inc. | Industrials | 13.70% | $33.27B |
| 26 | TT | Trane Technologies plc | Industrials | 13.63% | $97.73B |
| 27 | HWM | Howmet Aerospace Inc. | Industrials | 13.49% | $92.77B |
| 28 | WSO | Watsco, Inc. | Industrials | 13.31% | $12.78B |
| 29 | TREX | Trex Company, Inc. | Industrials | 13.10% | $4.63B |
| 30 | OTIS | Otis Worldwide Corporation | Industrials | 12.99% | $26.38B |
| 31 | GIC | Global Industrial Company | Industrials | 12.41% | $1.51B |
| 32 | DCI | Donaldson Company, Inc. | Industrials | 12.33% | $10.41B |
| 33 | ALLE | Allegion plc | Industrials | 12.32% | $12.90B |
| 34 | VLTO | Veralto Corporation | Industrials | 12.22% | $23.09B |
| 35 | SNA | Snap-on Incorporated | Industrials | 12.09% | $19.52B |
| 36 | BAH | Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation | Industrials | 11.95% | $8.68B |
| 37 | CSL | Carlisle Companies Incorporated | Industrials | 11.83% | $13.40B |
| 38 | WTS | Watts Water Technologies, Inc. | Industrials | 11.83% | $11.89B |
| 39 | PH | Parker-Hannifin Corporation | Industrials | 11.82% | $119.68B |
| 40 | ECG | Everus Construction Group, Inc. | Industrials | 11.67% | $5.99B |
| 41 | CHRW | C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. | Industrials | 11.61% | $17.58B |
| 42 | FTAI | FTAI Aviation Ltd. | Industrials | 11.46% | $19.03B |
| 43 | POOL | Pool Corporation | Industrials | 11.21% | $6.47B |
| 44 | ULS | UL Solutions Inc. | Industrials | 11.13% | $14.72B |
| 45 | BRC | Brady Corporation | Industrials | 11.09% | $4.10B |
| 46 | STRL | Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. | Industrials | 11.02% | $15.15B |
| 47 | MSA | MSA Safety Incorporated | Industrials | 10.92% | $7.13B |
| 48 | VRT | Vertiv Holdings Co | Industrials | 10.91% | $101.21B |
| 49 | KMT | Kennametal Inc. | Industrials | 10.81% | $2.26B |
| 50 | HUBB | Hubbell Incorporated | Industrials | 10.78% | $24.04B |
| 51 | FERG | Ferguson Enterprises Inc. | Industrials | 10.47% | $43.18B |
| 52 | MWA | Mueller Water Products, Inc. | Industrials | 10.42% | $3.75B |
| 53 | VMI | Valmont Industries, Inc. | Industrials | 10.40% | $9.28B |
| 54 | NVT | nVent Electric plc | Industrials | 10.37% | $25.66B |
| 55 | FSS | Federal Signal Corporation | Industrials | 10.31% | $7.17B |
| 56 | UNP | Union Pacific Corporation | Industrials | 10.24% | $169.16B |
| 57 | CPA | Copa Holdings, S.A. | Industrials | 10.20% | $5.30B |
| 58 | ZTO | ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. | Industrials | 9.98% | $15.68B |
| 59 | ETN | Eaton Corporation plc | Industrials | 9.91% | $161.27B |
| 60 | DAC | Danaos Corporation | Industrials | 9.67% | $2.82B |
| 61 | MATX | Matson, Inc. | Industrials | 9.60% | $6.78B |
| 62 | WWD | Woodward, Inc. | Industrials | 9.55% | $19.94B |
| 63 | KFRC | Kforce Inc. | Industrials | 9.52% | $0.92B |
| 64 | PNR | Pentair plc | Industrials | 9.52% | $9.18B |
| 65 | WMS | Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. | Industrials | 9.52% | $9.94B |
| 66 | CR | Crane Company | Industrials | 9.51% | $11.65B |
| 67 | FDXF | FedEx Freight Holding Company, Inc. | Industrials | 9.51% | $18.66B |
| 68 | CW | Curtiss-Wright Corporation | Industrials | 9.27% | $20.88B |
| 69 | AME | AMETEK, Inc. | Industrials | 9.21% | $54.17B |
| 70 | TTC | The Toro Company | Industrials | 9.19% | $8.97B |
| 71 | PRG | PROG Holdings, Inc. | Industrials | 9.11% | $1.49B |
| 72 | TDG | TransDigm Group Incorporated | Industrials | 9.05% | $62.22B |
| 73 | CAT | Caterpillar Inc. | Industrials | 9.01% | $374.89B |
| 74 | HAFN | Hafnia Limited | Industrials | 8.91% | $4.58B |
| 75 | CMI | Cummins Inc. | Industrials | 8.70% | $76.37B |
| 76 | JCI | Johnson Controls International plc | Industrials | 8.67% | $87.78B |
| 77 | MMM | 3M Company | Industrials | 8.61% | $84.78B |
| 78 | WOR | Worthington Enterprises, Inc. | Industrials | 8.45% | $2.92B |
| 79 | LMT | Lockheed Martin Corporation | Industrials | 8.38% | $121.04B |
| 80 | TRI | Thomson Reuters Corporation | Industrials | 8.37% | $42.01B |
| 81 | URI | United Rentals, Inc. | Industrials | 8.35% | $64.03B |
| 82 | AYI | Acuity Inc. | Industrials | 8.34% | $9.60B |
| 83 | NDSN | Nordson Corporation | Industrials | 8.19% | $17.49B |
| 84 | DOV | Dover Corporation | Industrials | 8.15% | $25.78B |
| 85 | NOC | Northrop Grumman Corporation | Industrials | 8.14% | $73.24B |
| 86 | HEI | HEICO Corporation | Industrials | 8.12% | $43.65B |
| 87 | MSM | MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. | Industrials | 8.10% | $6.67B |
| 88 | ATI | ATI Inc. | Industrials | 7.93% | $28.12B |
| 89 | REVG | REV Group, Inc. | Industrials | 7.93% | $3.12B |
| 90 | BLD | TopBuild Corp. | Industrials | 7.90% | $9.94B |
| 91 | DLB | Dolby Laboratories, Inc. | Industrials | 7.90% | $5.79B |
| 92 | MMS | Maximus, Inc. | Industrials | 7.84% | $2.94B |
| 93 | FCN | FTI Consulting, Inc. | Industrials | 7.76% | $4.17B |
| 94 | GEV | GE Vernova Inc. | Industrials | 7.75% | $253.29B |
| 95 | ROK | Rockwell Automation, Inc. | Industrials | 7.75% | $47.32B |
| 96 | ITT | ITT Inc. | Industrials | 7.73% | $17.72B |
| 97 | BWXT | BWX Technologies, Inc. | Industrials | 7.70% | $14.36B |
| 98 | UPS | United Parcel Service, Inc. | Industrials | 7.62% | $84.41B |
| 99 | CNM | Core & Main, Inc. | Industrials | 7.59% | $7.79B |
| 100 | FELE | Franklin Electric Co., Inc. | Industrials | 7.56% | $4.34B |
No companies match this search.
How this ranking is built
Companies are ranked by return on assets as reported in their most recent annual filing with the SEC. Figures shown are in US dollars (or percent, as noted), rounded to two decimals.
- Source: annual 10-K / 20-F filings from companies trading on US exchanges (NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX).
- Fiscal year: whichever annual period the company has most recently filed. Fiscal years don't always align with the calendar year, so the "as of FY" stamp above reflects the most common year across the table.
- Filtered out: warrants, preferred shares, and duplicate listings that share a parent company's financials.
- Size floor: A company qualifies at $1 billion in annual revenue or above, so a small filer with a freak ratio cannot top the list.
- Value range: Only figures above 0% and up to 100% qualify.
- Update cadence: refreshed as companies file new annual reports (typically within 60–90 days of fiscal year end).
Not financial advice. This is a research tool, not a recommendation.