American States Water vs Essential Utilities
AWR and WTRG side by side, both in water supply. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How AWR and WTRG compare
Essential Utilities is the larger company, worth 3.6 times as much as American States Water ($12.3B against $3.4B).
On earnings, Essential Utilities is cheaper: it trades at 22.2× trailing earnings, against 23.6× for American States Water.
American States Water grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (13.2% versus 9.9% for Essential Utilities).
Essential Utilities keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 21.6% compared with 20.5% at American States Water.
Both pay dividends: American States Water yields 2.4% and Essential Utilities 3.2%.
American States Water scores higher on the StockData Score (15 against 8 for Essential Utilities), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | AWR | WTRG |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $3.4B | $12.3B |
| Share price | $86.32 | $43.52 |
| Change, 1 year | 18.8% | 11.1% |
| Change, 5 years | −8.4% | −8.6% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.31 | 0.33 |
| Employees | 900 | 3,303 |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 15 (better) | 8 |
| Valuation score | 2 | 2 |
| Growth score | 4 (better) | 1 |
| Performance score | 4 (better) | 2 |
| Health score | 2 (better) | 0 |
| Dividend score | 3 | 3 |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 23.6× | 22.2× (better) |
| P/S | 4.9× | 4.8× (better) |
| P/B | 3.1× | 1.8× (better) |
| EV/EBITDA | 15.1× (better) | 15.5× |
| P/FCF | 165× | – |
| PEG | 1.40 (better) | 2.95 |
| FCF yield | 0.61% | – |
| Fair value | $79.63 | $42.81 |
| Margin of safety | −8.4% | −1.7% (better) |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 13.2% (better) | 9.9% |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 6.2% | 11.1% (better) |
| Net income growth (TTM) | 14.7% (better) | −14.1% |
| EPS growth (TTM) | 12.0% (better) | −15.9% |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | 7.7% | 14.5% (better) |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 90.1% | – |
| Operating margin | 31.8% | 35.1% (better) |
| Net margin | 20.5% | 21.6% (better) |
| FCF margin | 3.0% | – |
| Return on equity | 13.7% (better) | 8.1% |
| Return on invested capital | 9.5% (better) | 5.7% |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 0.64 (better) | 1.21 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.56 (better) | 6.31 |
| Interest coverage | 4.7× (better) | 2.6× |
| Current ratio | 0.98 (better) | 0.78 |
| Altman Z-score | 2.08 (better) | 1.01 |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 5 (better) |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 2.4% | 3.2% (better) |
| Payout ratio | 54.8% | 69.8% |
| Years of dividend growth | 16 | 16 |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | 8.7% (better) | 6.6% |
| Buyback yield | −2.4% | −0.10% (better) |
| Shareholder yield | 0.01% | 3.1% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 83.1% | 79.0% |
| Held by insiders | 1.0% | 4.4% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$247K | −$113K (better) |
| Short interest, % of float | 2.5% | 2.4% |
Go deeper
- AWR stock overview
- AWR income statement
- AWR valuation and score
- WTRG stock overview
- WTRG income statement
- WTRG valuation and score
Other comparisons
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.