CWT vs. CWCO, GWRS, MSEX, YORW, AWK, AWR, WTRG, HTO, CDZI, and ARTNA
Should you be buying California Water Service Group stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of California Water Service Group include Consolidated Water (CWCO), Global Water Resources (GWRS), Middlesex Water (MSEX), York Water (YORW), American Water Works (AWK), American States Water (AWR), Essential Utilities (WTRG), H2O America (HTO), Cadiz (CDZI), and Artesian Resources (ARTNA).
California Water Service Group vs. Its Competitors
California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) and Consolidated Water (NASDAQ:CWCO) are both utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and dividends.
In the previous week, Consolidated Water had 1 more articles in the media than California Water Service Group. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Consolidated Water and 5 mentions for California Water Service Group. Consolidated Water's average media sentiment score of 0.85 beat California Water Service Group's score of 0.66 indicating that Consolidated Water is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
82.8% of California Water Service Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.2% of Consolidated Water shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of California Water Service Group shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Consolidated Water shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
California Water Service Group pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Consolidated Water pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. California Water Service Group pays out 52.4% 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. California Water Service Group has increased its dividend for 59 consecutive years and Consolidated Water has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. California Water Service Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
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.
California Water Service Group has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Consolidated Water has a beta of 0.53, suggesting that its stock price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.
California Water Service Group currently has a consensus price target of $56.00, suggesting a potential upside of 16.27%. Consolidated Water has a consensus price target of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.07%. Given California Water Service Group's higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe California Water Service Group is more favorable than Consolidated Water.
California Water Service Group has higher revenue and earnings than Consolidated Water. California Water Service Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Consolidated Water, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
California Water Service Group beats Consolidated Water on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding CWT and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This 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.
California Water Service Group Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:CWT) was last updated on 10/16/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
