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 | FAST | Fastenal Company | Industrials | 24.90% | $60.20B |
| 2 | MLI | Mueller Industries, Inc. | Industrials | 20.50% | $11.85B |
| 3 | BLBD | Blue Bird Corporation | Industrials | 20.43% | $1.98B |
| 4 | GFL | GFL Environmental Inc. | Industrials | 19.87% | $19.92B |
| 5 | LII | Lennox International Inc. | Industrials | 19.74% | $12.64B |
| 6 | IESC | IES Holdings, Inc. | Industrials | 19.18% | $9.20B |
| 7 | GWW | W.W. Grainger, Inc. | Industrials | 19.04% | $63.94B |
| 8 | CTAS | Cintas Corporation | Industrials | 18.99% | $89.71B |
| 9 | ITW | Illinois Tool Works Inc. | Industrials | 18.99% | $78.67B |
| 10 | ODFL | Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc. | Industrials | 18.71% | $37.84B |
| 11 | WNC | Wabash National Corporation | Industrials | 18.05% | $528.36M |
| 12 | AOS | A. O. Smith Corporation | Industrials | 17.38% | $8.41B |
| 13 | EXPD | Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. | Industrials | 16.56% | $25.53B |
| 14 | POWL | Powell Industries, Inc. | Industrials | 16.30% | $5.72B |
| 15 | AWI | Armstrong World Industries, Inc. | Industrials | 16.04% | $6.97B |
| 16 | GGG | Graco Inc. | Industrials | 15.94% | $10.60B |
| 17 | FIX | Comfort Systems USA, Inc. | Industrials | 15.88% | $43.79B |
| 18 | MAS | Masco Corporation | Industrials | 15.57% | $14.89B |
| 19 | CPRT | Copart, Inc. | Industrials | 14.80% | $27.00B |
| 20 | VRSK | Verisk Analytics, Inc. | Industrials | 14.66% | $25.54B |
| 21 | AZZ | AZZ Inc. | Industrials | 14.33% | $3.99B |
| 22 | RELX | RELX PLC | Industrials | 13.99% | $69.74B |
| 23 | CRS | Carpenter Technology Corporation | Industrials | 13.80% | $14.34B |
| 24 | LECO | Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. | Industrials | 13.78% | $14.10B |
| 25 | AIT | Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. | Industrials | 13.77% | $11.93B |
| 26 | EME | EMCOR Group, Inc. | Industrials | 13.70% | $29.37B |
| 27 | TT | Trane Technologies plc | Industrials | 13.63% | $100.12B |
| 28 | HWM | Howmet Aerospace Inc. | Industrials | 13.49% | $77.51B |
| 29 | TREX | Trex Company, Inc. | Industrials | 13.10% | $5.05B |
| 30 | OTIS | Otis Worldwide Corporation | Industrials | 12.99% | $28.65B |
| 31 | GIC | Global Industrial Company | Industrials | 12.41% | $1.70B |
| 32 | ALLE | Allegion plc | Industrials | 12.32% | $15.16B |
| 33 | VLTO | Veralto Corporation | Industrials | 12.22% | $25.20B |
| 34 | SNA | Snap-on Incorporated | Industrials | 12.09% | $18.51B |
| 35 | BAH | Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation | Industrials | 11.96% | $9.93B |
| 36 | CSL | Carlisle Companies Incorporated | Industrials | 11.83% | $13.74B |
| 37 | WTS | Watts Water Technologies, Inc. | Industrials | 11.83% | $12.28B |
| 38 | PH | Parker-Hannifin Corporation | Industrials | 11.81% | $114.06B |
| 39 | ECG | Everus Construction Group, Inc. | Industrials | 11.67% | $5.01B |
| 40 | CHRW | C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. | Industrials | 11.61% | $16.18B |
| 41 | DCI | Donaldson Company, Inc. | Industrials | 11.38% | $9.90B |
| 42 | WSO | Watsco, Inc. | Industrials | 11.26% | $12.71B |
| 43 | POOL | Pool Corporation | Industrials | 11.21% | $7.09B |
| 44 | ULS | UL Solutions Inc. | Industrials | 11.13% | $14.73B |
| 45 | BRC | Brady Corporation | Industrials | 11.09% | $3.84B |
| 46 | STRL | Sterling Infrastructure, Inc. | Industrials | 11.02% | $11.03B |
| 47 | FTAI | FTAI Aviation Ltd. | Industrials | 10.92% | $16.19B |
| 48 | MSA | MSA Safety Incorporated | Industrials | 10.92% | $7.04B |
| 49 | VRT | Vertiv Holdings Co | Industrials | 10.91% | $76.91B |
| 50 | AYI | Acuity Inc. | Industrials | 10.90% | $9.54B |
| 51 | KMT | Kennametal Inc. | Industrials | 10.81% | $2.27B |
| 52 | HUBB | Hubbell Incorporated | Industrials | 10.78% | $24.27B |
| 53 | PAC | Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico, S.A.B. de C.V. | Industrials | 10.55% | $13.37B |
| 54 | FERG | Ferguson Enterprises Inc. | Industrials | 10.47% | $44.40B |
| 55 | MWA | Mueller Water Products, Inc. | Industrials | 10.42% | $3.51B |
| 56 | VMI | Valmont Industries, Inc. | Industrials | 10.40% | $8.27B |
| 57 | NVT | nVent Electric plc | Industrials | 10.37% | $20.91B |
| 58 | FSS | Federal Signal Corporation | Industrials | 10.31% | $6.97B |
| 59 | UNP | Union Pacific Corporation | Industrials | 10.24% | $176.42B |
| 60 | CPA | Copa Holdings, S.A. | Industrials | 10.20% | $5.31B |
| 61 | ZTO | ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. | Industrials | 9.98% | $14.93B |
| 62 | ETN | Eaton Corporation plc | Industrials | 9.91% | $144.45B |
| 63 | DAC | Danaos Corporation | Industrials | 9.67% | $2.88B |
| 64 | MATX | Matson, Inc. | Industrials | 9.60% | $6.84B |
| 65 | WWD | Woodward, Inc. | Industrials | 9.55% | $18.05B |
| 66 | KFRC | Kforce Inc. | Industrials | 9.52% | $1.05B |
| 67 | PNR | Pentair plc | Industrials | 9.52% | $8.81B |
| 68 | CR | Crane Company | Industrials | 9.51% | $11.01B |
| 69 | FDXF | FedEx Freight Holding Company, Inc. | Industrials | 9.51% | $16.36B |
| 70 | WMS | Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. | Industrials | 9.47% | $9.90B |
| 71 | CW | Curtiss-Wright Corporation | Industrials | 9.27% | $17.60B |
| 72 | AME | AMETEK, Inc. | Industrials | 9.21% | $55.67B |
| 73 | RYAAY | Ryanair Holdings plc | Industrials | 9.21% | $27.45B |
| 74 | TTC | The Toro Company | Industrials | 9.19% | $9.98B |
| 75 | PRG | PROG Holdings, Inc. | Industrials | 9.11% | $1.17B |
| 76 | TDG | TransDigm Group Incorporated | Industrials | 9.05% | $62.45B |
| 77 | CAT | Caterpillar Inc. | Industrials | 9.01% | $318.15B |
| 78 | HAFN | Hafnia Limited | Industrials | 8.91% | $5.77B |
| 79 | MSM | MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. | Industrials | 8.87% | $6.63B |
| 80 | JCI | Johnson Controls International plc | Industrials | 8.67% | $89.35B |
| 81 | MMM | 3M Company | Industrials | 8.61% | $89.11B |
| 82 | WOR | Worthington Enterprises, Inc. | Industrials | 8.45% | $3.16B |
| 83 | LMT | Lockheed Martin Corporation | Industrials | 8.38% | $146.73B |
| 84 | TRI | Thomson Reuters Corporation | Industrials | 8.37% | $52.89B |
| 85 | CMI | Cummins Inc. | Industrials | 8.36% | $71.88B |
| 86 | URI | United Rentals, Inc. | Industrials | 8.35% | $69.83B |
| 87 | LTM | LATAM Airlines Group S.A. | Industrials | 8.28% | $12.45B |
| 88 | NDSN | Nordson Corporation | Industrials | 8.19% | $17.93B |
| 89 | DOV | Dover Corporation | Industrials | 8.15% | $26.93B |
| 90 | NOC | Northrop Grumman Corporation | Industrials | 8.14% | $80.32B |
| 91 | HEI | HEICO Corporation | Industrials | 8.12% | $43.28B |
| 92 | CNI | Canadian National Railway Company | Industrials | 8.06% | $74.47B |
| 93 | ATI | ATI Inc. | Industrials | 7.93% | $22.41B |
| 94 | DLB | Dolby Laboratories, Inc. | Industrials | 7.90% | $5.91B |
| 95 | MMS | Maximus, Inc. | Industrials | 7.84% | $3.32B |
| 96 | FCN | FTI Consulting, Inc. | Industrials | 7.76% | $4.46B |
| 97 | GEV | GE Vernova Inc. | Industrials | 7.75% | $227.75B |
| 98 | ROK | Rockwell Automation, Inc. | Industrials | 7.75% | $47.74B |
| 99 | ITT | ITT Inc. | Industrials | 7.73% | $17.06B |
| 100 | BWXT | BWX Technologies, Inc. | Industrials | 7.70% | $12.02B |
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.
Frequently asked questions
Does a rising return on assets mean an industrial company has become more efficient?
Sometimes, and sometimes it only means the cycle turned. Fixed costs spread across higher volume lift profit far faster than the asset base grows, so returns climb in strong years without any change in how the plants are run. A genuine efficiency gain shows up as a return that holds through weaker years too. Comparing the current figure with the same company's previous peaks is the simplest way to tell the two apart.
Why do industrial returns on assets look modest next to software?
Industrial businesses have to own the means of production. Machines, tooling, plants and inventory are recorded on the balance sheet, so the denominator is large by nature, while a software firm expenses most of what creates its earnings. A moderate industrial figure can represent excellent capital discipline. The useful comparison is against other manufacturers with similar capital intensity, not against models that keep their productive assets off the books.