How to buy Watsco stock | 235.81

Watsco, Inc is an industrial distribution business based in the US. Watsco shares (WSO) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Watsco employs 5,700 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$5 billion.

How to buy shares in Watsco

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Watsco. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: WSO. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Watsco reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of USD$235.81, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Watsco, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Watsco. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Watsco share price

Use our graph to track the performance of WSO stocks over time.

Watsco shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-11-30.

Latest market close	USD$235.81
52-week range	USD$129.2355 - USD$248.98
50-day moving average	USD$231.7332
200-day moving average	USD$214.9085
Wall St. target price	USD$213.67
PE ratio	33.4642
Dividend yield	USD$7.1 (3.18%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$6.801

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Is it a good time to buy Watsco stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Watsco, Inc by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Watsco price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $235.81 from 2020-11-16

1 week (2020-11-20)	N/A
1 month (2020-10-28)	N/A
3 months (2020-08-28)	N/A
6 months (2020-05-28)	N/A

1 year (2019-11-27)	N/A
2 years (2018-11-27)	N/A
3 years (2017-11-27)	N/A
5 years (2015-11-27)	N/A

Is Watsco under- or over-valued?

Valuing Watsco stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Watsco's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Watsco's P/E ratio

Watsco's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 33x. In other words, Watsco shares trade at around 33x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Watsco's PEG ratio

Watsco's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.87. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Watsco's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Watsco's EBITDA

Watsco's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$398 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Watsco's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Watsco financials

Revenue TTM	USD$5 billion
Operating margin TTM	7.48%
Gross profit TTM	USD$1.2 billion
Return on assets TTM	8.71%
Return on equity TTM	17.46%
Profit margin	5.25%
Book value	$42.21
Market capitalisation	USD$8.8 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Watsco shares

There are currently 2.1 million Watsco shares held short by investors – that's known as Watsco's "short interest". This figure is 4.1% down from 2.2 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Watsco shares can be evaluated.

Watsco's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Watsco's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Watsco shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Watsco shares traded daily (recently around 168401.69628433). Watsco's SIR currently stands at 12.38. In other words for every 100,000 Watsco shares traded daily on the market, roughly 12380 shares are currently held short.

However Watsco's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Watsco shares, or, against the total number of tradable Watsco shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Watsco's short interest could be expressed as 0.05% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Watsco shares in existence, roughly 50 shares are currently held short) or 0.0723% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Watsco shares, roughly 72 shares are currently held short).

A SIR above 10% would generally be considered pretty high, pointing to a potentially pessimistic outlook for the share price and a discouraging interest in betting against Watsco.

Find out more about how you can short Watsco stock.

Watsco share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 103.98% of net profits

Recently Watsco has paid out, on average, around 103.98% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.18% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Watsco shareholders could enjoy a 3.18% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Watsco's case, that would currently equate to about $7.1 per share.

Watsco's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

Watsco's most recent dividend payout was on 30 October 2020. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 14 October 2020 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Watsco's shares ever split?

Watsco's shares were split on a 3:2 basis on 17 August 1998. So if you had owned 2 shares the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 3 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Watsco shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 33.3% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Watsco shares which in turn could have impacted Watsco's share price.

Watsco share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Watsco's shares have ranged in value from as little as $129.2355 up to $248.98. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Watsco's is 0.792. This would suggest that Watsco's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

Watsco overview

Watsco, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes air conditioning, heating, and refrigeration equipment; and related parts and supplies in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. It offers residential ducted and ductless air conditioners; gas, electric, and oil furnaces; commercial air conditioning and heating equipment systems; and other specialized equipment. The company also provides parts comprising replacement compressors, evaporator coils, motors, and other component parts; and supplies, such as thermostats, insulation material, refrigerants, ductwork, grills, registers, sheet metal, tools, copper tubing, concrete pads, tapes, adhesives, and other ancillary supplies. It serves contractors and dealers that service the replacement and new construction markets for residential and light commercial central air conditioning, heating, and refrigeration systems. In addition, the company exports its products to Latin America and the Caribbean Basin. Watsco, Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Miami, Florida.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Watsco is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.728% of Watsco shares are held by insiders and 97.405% by institutions.

• How many people work for Watsco?

  Latest data suggests 5,700 work at Watsco.

• When does the fiscal year end for Watsco?

  Watsco's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Watsco based?

  Watsco's address is: 2665 South Bayshore Drive, Miami, FL, United States, 33133

• What is Watsco's ISIN number?

  Watsco's international securities identification number is: US9426222009

• What is Watsco's CUSIP number?

  Watsco's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 942622200