AWK vs. AWR, CWT, SJW, MSEX, YORW, CWCO, ARTNA, CDZI, WTRG, and SBS
Should you be buying American Water Works stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of American Water Works include American States Water (AWR), California Water Service Group (CWT), SJW Group (SJW), Middlesex Water (MSEX), York Water (YORW), Consolidated Water (CWCO), Artesian Resources (ARTNA), Cadiz (CDZI), Essential Utilities (WTRG), and Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP (SBS). These companies are all part of the "water supply" industry.
American Water Works (NYSE:AWK) and American States Water (NYSE:AWR) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, community ranking, risk, institutional ownership and dividends.
In the previous week, American Water Works had 5 more articles in the media than American States Water. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for American Water Works and 7 mentions for American States Water. American Water Works' average media sentiment score of 0.70 beat American States Water's score of 0.59 indicating that American Water Works is being referred to more favorably in the media.
American Water Works received 264 more outperform votes than American States Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.78% of users gave American Water Works an outperform vote while only 51.83% of users gave American States Water an outperform vote.
American Water Works presently has a consensus price target of $141.80, suggesting a potential upside of 0.07%. American States Water has a consensus price target of $80.00, suggesting a potential downside of 3.17%. Given American Water Works' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe American Water Works is more favorable than American States Water.
86.6% of American Water Works shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of American States Water shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Water Works shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of American States Water shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
American Water Works pays an annual dividend of $3.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. American States Water pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. American Water Works pays out 62.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American States Water pays out 56.2% 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 a beta of 0.67, suggesting that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American States Water has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American Water Works has a net margin of 22.27% compared to American States Water's net margin of 19.95%. American States Water's return on equity of 13.65% beat American Water Works' return on equity.
American Water Works has higher revenue and earnings than American States Water. American States 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.
Summary
American Water Works beats American States Water on 16 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding AWK and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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