North America Environmental Services: Expanding coverage in Water Tech; Initiate ZWS at OW, MWA at UW, HWKN at EW

Research evidence excerpt

North America Environmental Services: Expanding coverage in Water Tech; Initiate ZWS at OW, MWA at UW, HWKN at EW

Equity Research

30 June 2026

North America Environmental Services

Expanding coverage in Water Tech;

Initiate ZWS at OW, MWA at UW, Initiating Coverage

North America Environmental ServicesHWKN at EW

POSITIVE

We see a bifurcating setup in Water Tech: We favor names Unchanged

levered to non-res construction, while we see risk of North America Environmental Services William Grippin, CFA

decelerating growth for utility exposed business models. +1 617 330 5804

william.grippin@barclays.com

BCI, US

We initiate coverage of Zurn Elkay Water Solutions (ZWS, OW), Mueller Water Products (MWA,

UW) and Hawkins (HWKN, EW), expanding our total Water Tech coverage to 7 names (see Figure Alec Scheibelhoffer

+1 212 526 10213) with $77bn of market cap. Our relative preference is for companies levered to a recovery in

alec.scheibelhoffer@barclays.com

non-residential construction, with minimal municipal water exposure. Within this framework, BCI, US

we view ZWS as most attractive. We see potential for increasing dispersion in Water Tech stock

performance in 2027 as the impacts of a tighter municipal funding environment weigh on capex

exposed water utility equipment providers such as MWA.

Stock views

• ZWS (OW): We see ZWS as having attractive exposure to a non-res construction recovery in

Water Tech, driven by retrofit demand, limited muni exposure, and incremental growth from

new products and recurring filter revenue. We forecast ~10% EBITDA/sh growth and upside

from buyback and M&A optionality, supporting a premium valuation relative to peers and our

coverage.

• MWA (UW): We are Underweight MWA given its heavy muni exposure where funding and