American Water Works (AWK) Competitors

American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) and Consolidated Water (NASDAQ:CWCO) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends and valuation.

Is AWK or CWCO a better dividend stock?

American Water Works pays an annual dividend of $3.31 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Consolidated Water pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. American Water Works pays out 60.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Consolidated Water pays out 34.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. American Water Works has raised its dividend for 18 consecutive years and Consolidated Water has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. American Water Works is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in AWK or CWCO?

86.6% of American Water Works shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.2% of Consolidated Water shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Water Works shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Consolidated Water shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, AWK or CWCO?

American Water Works has higher revenue and earnings than Consolidated Water. Consolidated Water is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Water Works, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Water Works	$4.68B	5.92	$1.05B	$5.49	25.91
Consolidated Water	$127.99M	3.73	$28.24M	$1.62	18.50

Do analysts recommend AWK or CWCO?

American Water Works presently has a consensus target price of $141.67, indicating a potential downside of 0.40%. Given American Water Works' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe American Water Works is more favorable than Consolidated Water.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Water Works	3 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.80
Consolidated Water	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Does the media refer more to AWK or CWCO?

In the previous week, American Water Works had 28 more articles in the media than Consolidated Water. MarketBeat recorded 31 mentions for American Water Works and 3 mentions for Consolidated Water. American Water Works' average media sentiment score of 0.80 beat Consolidated Water's score of 0.68 indicating that American Water Works is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American Water Works	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Consolidated Water	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, AWK or CWCO?

American Water Works has a beta of 0.69, meaning that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Consolidated Water has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AWK or CWCO more profitable?

American Water Works has a net margin of 22.24% compared to Consolidated Water's net margin of 20.75%. American Water Works' return on equity of 10.35% beat Consolidated Water's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Water Works	22.24%	10.35%	3.32%
Consolidated Water	20.75%	7.43%	6.61%

Summary

American Water Works beats Consolidated Water on 16 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.