As the Q3 earnings season comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of this quarter’s best and worst performers in the hvac and water systems industry, including A. O. Smith (NYSE: AOS) and its peers.

Many HVAC and water systems companies sell essential, non-discretionary infrastructure for buildings. Since the useful lives of these water heaters and vents are fairly standard, these companies have a portion of predictable replacement revenue. In the last decade, trends in energy efficiency and clean water are driving innovation that is leading to incremental demand. On the other hand, new installations for these companies are at the whim of residential and commercial construction volumes, which tend to be cyclical and can be impacted heavily by economic factors such as interest rates.

The 9 hvac and water systems stocks we track reported a strong Q3. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 3.6% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 0.7% below.

Thankfully, share prices of the companies have been resilient as they are up 8% on average since the latest earnings results.

A. O. Smith (NYSE: AOS)

Credited with the invention of the glass-lined water heater, A.O. Smith (NYSE: AOS) manufactures water heating and treatment products for various industries.

A. O. Smith reported revenues of $942.5 million, up 4.4% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, but overall, it was a slower quarter for the company with full-year revenue guidance missing analysts’ expectations and full-year EPS guidance missing analysts’ expectations.

Steve Shafer, chief executive officer, stated, "In the third quarter, the A. O. Smith team achieved sales growth of 4%. The North America segment delivered 6% growth driven by the benefits of pricing actions implemented earlier this year to address increased costs in North America and continued demand resiliency for our commercial water heaters and boilers. This performance was partially offset by continued economic challenges in China, which experienced a 12% local currency sales decline in the quarter."

Interestingly, the stock is up 6.5% since reporting and currently trades at $73.10.

Read our full report on A. O. Smith here, it’s free.

Best Q3: Northwest Pipe (NASDAQ: NWPX)

Playing a large role in the Integrated Pipeline (IPL) project in Texas to deliver ~350 million gallons of water per day, Northwest Pipe (NASDAQ: NWPX) is a manufacturer of pipeline systems for water infrastructure.

Northwest Pipe reported revenues of $151.1 million, up 16% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 14.4%. The business had an incredible quarter with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

Northwest Pipe achieved the biggest analyst estimates beat among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 25.1% since reporting. It currently trades at $69.66.

Is now the time to buy Northwest Pipe? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Weakest Q3: Lennox (NYSE: LII)

Based in Texas and founded over a century ago, Lennox (NYSE: LII) is a climate control solutions company offering heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration (HVACR) goods.

Lennox reported revenues of $1.43 billion, down 4.8% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 3.9%. It was a slower quarter as it posted a significant miss of analysts’ revenue estimates and a significant miss of analysts’ organic revenue estimates.

Lennox delivered the weakest performance against analyst estimates in the group. As expected, the stock is down 7.2% since the results and currently trades at $509.69.

Read our full analysis of Lennox’s results here.

CSW (NASDAQ: CSW)

With over two centuries of combined operations manufacturing and supplying, CSW (NASDAQ: CSW) offers special chemicals, coatings, sealants, and lubricants for various industries.

CSW reported revenues of $277 million, up 21.5% year on year. This number came in 0.5% below analysts' expectations. More broadly, it was a mixed quarter as it also recorded a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates but a slight miss of analysts’ revenue estimates.

CSW achieved the fastest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is up 35.4% since reporting and currently trades at $330.31.

Read our full, actionable report on CSW here, it’s free.

Trane Technologies (NYSE: TT)

With low-pressure heating systems as its first product, Trane (NYSE: TT) designs, manufactures, and sells HVAC and refrigeration systems, the former to commercial and residential building customers and the latter to commercial truck manufacturers.

Trane Technologies reported revenues of $5.74 billion, up 5.5% year on year. This result lagged analysts' expectations by 0.9%. Zooming out, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also logged an impressive beat of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates but a slight miss of analysts’ revenue estimates.

The stock is down 8.8% since reporting and currently trades at $389.85.

Read our full, actionable report on Trane Technologies here, it’s free.

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