MSEX vs. YORW, CWCO, ARTNA, SJW, AWR, CWT, GWRS, PCYO, UTL, and EDN
Should you be buying Middlesex Water stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Middlesex Water include York Water (YORW), Consolidated Water (CWCO), Artesian Resources (ARTNA), SJW Group (SJW), American States Water (AWR), California Water Service Group (CWT), Global Water Resources (GWRS), Pure Cycle (PCYO), Unitil (UTL), and Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima (EDN). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
York Water (NASDAQ:YORW) and Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, community ranking and earnings.
In the previous week, York Water had 2 more articles in the media than Middlesex Water. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for York Water and 5 mentions for Middlesex Water. York Water's average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat Middlesex Water's score of -0.19 indicating that Middlesex Water is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
49.9% of York Water shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Middlesex Water shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.0% of York Water shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Middlesex Water shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
York Water has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Middlesex Water has a beta of 0.74, indicating that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.
York Water has a net margin of 33.45% compared to York Water's net margin of 18.96%. Middlesex Water's return on equity of 11.05% beat York Water's return on equity.
York Water pays an annual dividend of $0.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Middlesex Water pays an annual dividend of $1.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. York Water pays out 50.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Middlesex Water pays out 73.9% 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. York Water has raised its dividend for 26 consecutive years and Middlesex Water has raised its dividend for 51 consecutive years. Middlesex Water is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Middlesex Water has higher revenue and earnings than York Water. York Water is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Middlesex Water, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Middlesex Water has a consensus price target of $59.00, suggesting a potential upside of 19.97%. Given York Water's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Middlesex Water is more favorable than York Water.
Middlesex Water received 23 more outperform votes than York Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.44% of users gave Middlesex Water an outperform vote while only 57.62% of users gave York Water an outperform vote.
Summary
Middlesex Water beats York Water on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MSEX and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ 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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