California Water Service Group (CWT) Competitors

Consolidated Water (NASDAQ:CWCO) and California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Is CWCO or CWT more profitable?

California Water Service Group has a net margin of 13.71% compared to Consolidated Water's net margin of 12.24%. California Water Service Group's return on equity of 8.28% beat Consolidated Water's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Consolidated Water	12.24%	7.77%	6.84%
California Water Service Group	13.71%	8.28%	2.61%

Do analysts prefer CWCO or CWT?

Consolidated Water currently has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 22.85%. California Water Service Group has a consensus price target of $56.00, suggesting a potential upside of 21.00%. Given Consolidated Water's higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Consolidated Water is more favorable than California Water Service Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Consolidated Water	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
California Water Service Group	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.33

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of CWCO or CWT?

55.2% of Consolidated Water shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of California Water Service Group shares are held by institutional investors. 6.3% of Consolidated Water shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of California Water Service Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, CWCO or CWT?

California Water Service Group has higher revenue and earnings than Consolidated Water. Consolidated Water is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than California Water Service Group, 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
Consolidated Water	$133.97M	3.87	$28.24M	$1.62	20.10
California Water Service Group	$990.69M	2.78	$190.81M	$2.29	20.21

Does the media favor CWCO or CWT?

In the previous week, Consolidated Water had 7 more articles in the media than California Water Service Group. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Consolidated Water and 8 mentions for California Water Service Group. California Water Service Group's average media sentiment score of 1.51 beat Consolidated Water's score of 1.15 indicating that California Water Service Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Consolidated Water	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
California Water Service Group	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, CWCO or CWT?

Consolidated Water has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, California Water Service Group has a beta of 0.69, indicating that its share price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CWCO or CWT a better dividend stock?

Consolidated Water pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. California Water Service Group pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Consolidated Water pays out 34.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. California Water Service Group pays out 52.4% 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. Consolidated Water has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years and California Water Service Group has raised its dividend for 59 consecutive years. California Water Service Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

California Water Service Group beats Consolidated Water on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.