WTR vs. CWT, AWR, AWK, WTRG, SBS, PNW, OGE, BEP, SWX, and UGI
Should you be buying Aqua America stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Aqua America include California Water Service Group (CWT), American States Water (AWR), American Water Works (AWK), Essential Utilities (WTRG), Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP (SBS), Pinnacle West Capital (PNW), OGE Energy (OGE), Brookfield Renewable Partners (BEP), Southwest Gas (SWX), and UGI (UGI). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
Aqua America (NYSE:WTR) and California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, community ranking, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.
Aqua America pays an annual dividend of $0.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. California Water Service Group pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Aqua America pays out 66.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. California Water Service Group pays out 44.8% 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.
Aqua America has a net margin of 18.02% compared to California Water Service Group's net margin of 15.42%. California Water Service Group's return on equity of 10.09% beat Aqua America's return on equity.
Aqua America received 83 more outperform votes than California Water Service Group when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.81% of users gave Aqua America an outperform vote while only 53.79% of users gave California Water Service Group an outperform vote.
Aqua America has a beta of 0.32, indicating that its share price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, California Water Service Group has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, California Water Service Group had 18 more articles in the media than Aqua America. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for California Water Service Group and 0 mentions for Aqua America. California Water Service Group's average media sentiment score of 0.53 beat Aqua America's score of 0.00 indicating that California Water Service Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
California Water Service Group has a consensus price target of $54.25, indicating a potential upside of 7.85%. Given California Water Service Group's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe California Water Service Group is more favorable than Aqua America.
Aqua America has higher revenue and earnings than California Water Service Group. California Water Service Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Aqua America, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
66.5% of Aqua America shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of California Water Service Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Aqua America shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of California Water Service Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Summary
California Water Service Group beats Aqua America on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WTR 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 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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