H2O America vs Essential Utilities
HTO 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 HTO and WTRG compare
Essential Utilities is the larger company, worth 4.9 times as much as H2O America ($12.3B against $2.5B).
On earnings, H2O America is cheaper: it trades at 21.1× trailing earnings, against 22.2× for Essential Utilities.
Essential Utilities grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (9.9% versus 5.0% for H2O America).
Essential Utilities keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 21.6% compared with 12.9% at H2O America.
Both pay dividends: H2O America yields 2.9% and Essential Utilities 3.2%.
H2O America scores higher on the StockData Score (11 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 | HTO | WTRG |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $2.5B | $12.3B |
| Share price | $59.74 | $43.52 |
| Change, 1 year | 28.2% | 11.1% |
| Change, 5 years | −18.0% | −8.6% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.29 | 0.33 |
| Employees | 837 | 3,303 |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 11 (better) | 8 |
| Valuation score | 4 (better) | 2 |
| Growth score | 0 | 1 (better) |
| Performance score | 2 | 2 |
| Health score | 2 (better) | 0 |
| Dividend score | 3 | 3 |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 21.1× (better) | 22.2× |
| P/S | 3.0× (better) | 4.8× |
| P/B | 1.4× (better) | 1.8× |
| EV/EBITDA | 14.0× (better) | 15.5× |
| PEG | 3.34 | 2.95 (better) |
| Fair value | $63.90 | $42.81 |
| Margin of safety | 6.5% (better) | −1.7% |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 5.0% | 9.9% (better) |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 7.2% | 11.1% (better) |
| Net income growth (TTM) | 4.0% (better) | −14.1% |
| EPS growth (TTM) | −7.2% (better) | −15.9% |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | 6.4% | 14.5% (better) |
| Profitability | ||
| Operating margin | 21.5% | 35.1% (better) |
| Net margin | 12.9% | 21.6% (better) |
| Return on equity | 6.5% | 8.1% (better) |
| Return on invested capital | 4.7% | 5.7% (better) |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 1.03 (better) | 1.21 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.83 (better) | 6.31 |
| Interest coverage | 2.4× | 2.6× (better) |
| Current ratio | 1.67 (better) | 0.78 |
| Altman Z-score | 0.86 | 1.01 (better) |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 5 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 2.9% | 3.2% (better) |
| Payout ratio | 60.0% | 69.8% |
| Years of dividend growth | 16 | 16 |
| Dividend growth, 5Y average | 5.6% | 6.6% (better) |
| Buyback yield | −13.1% | −0.10% (better) |
| Shareholder yield | −10.2% | 3.1% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 106% | 79.0% |
| Held by insiders | 0.68% | 4.4% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | $7.9M (better) | −$113K |
| Short interest, % of float | 4.8% | 2.4% |
Go deeper
- HTO stock overview
- HTO income statement
- HTO 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.