SJW Group (SJW) Competitors

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) and SJW Group (NYSE:SJW) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, institutional ownership, community ranking and valuation.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AWR or SJW?

SJW Group received 165 more outperform votes than American States Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.96% of users gave SJW Group an outperform vote while only 50.33% of users gave American States Water an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
American States Water	Outperform Votes 227 50.33%	Underperform Votes 224 49.67%
SJW Group	Outperform Votes 392 60.96%	Underperform Votes 251 39.04%

Is AWR or SJW a better dividend stock?

American States Water pays an annual dividend of $1.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. SJW Group pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. American States Water pays out 58.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SJW Group pays out 58.9% 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 States Water has raised its dividend for 71 consecutive years and SJW Group has raised its dividend for 57 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to AWR or SJW?

In the previous week, SJW Group had 21 more articles in the media than American States Water. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for SJW Group and 4 mentions for American States Water. American States Water's average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat SJW Group's score of 0.93 indicating that American States Water is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American States Water	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
SJW Group	12 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, AWR or SJW?

American States Water has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SJW Group has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its share price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate AWR or SJW?

American States Water presently has a consensus price target of $74.00, indicating a potential downside of 8.69%. SJW Group has a consensus price target of $57.50, indicating a potential upside of 1.34%. Given SJW Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SJW Group is more favorable than American States Water.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American States Water	2 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.00
SJW Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is AWR or SJW more profitable?

American States Water has a net margin of 20.03% compared to SJW Group's net margin of 12.47%. American States Water's return on equity of 13.63% beat SJW Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American States Water	20.03%	13.63%	4.89%
SJW Group	12.47%	7.16%	2.05%

Do insiders & institutionals believe in AWR or SJW?

75.2% of American States Water shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.3% of SJW Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of American States Water shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of SJW Group shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, AWR or SJW?

American States Water has higher earnings, but lower revenue than SJW Group. SJW Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American States Water, 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 States Water	$595.46M	5.24	$119.27M	$3.17	25.56
SJW Group	$748.44M	2.59	$84.99M	$2.85	19.91

Summary

American States Water beats SJW Group on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.