CWT vs. AWR, SJW, MSEX, WTRG, SBS, MGEE, AVA, MYRG, PRMW, and NWE
Should you be buying California Water Service Group stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of California Water Service Group include American States Water (AWR), SJW Group (SJW), Middlesex Water (MSEX), Essential Utilities (WTRG), Companhia de Saneamento Básico do Estado de São Paulo - SABESP (SBS), MGE Energy (MGEE), Avista (AVA), MYR Group (MYRG), Primo Water (PRMW), and NorthWestern Energy Group (NWE). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) and American States Water (NYSE:AWR) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking and profitability.
California Water Service Group received 50 more outperform votes than American States Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 53.79% of users gave California Water Service Group an outperform vote while only 51.95% of users gave American States Water an outperform vote.
California Water Service Group currently has a consensus target price of $54.25, indicating a potential upside of 5.67%. American States Water has a consensus target price of $77.00, indicating a potential upside of 0.63%. Given California Water Service Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe California Water Service Group is more favorable than American States Water.
82.8% of California Water Service Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.2% of American States Water shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of California Water Service Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of American States Water shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
In the previous week, American States Water had 10 more articles in the media than California Water Service Group. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for American States Water and 5 mentions for California Water Service Group. California Water Service Group's average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat American States Water's score of 0.35 indicating that California Water Service Group is being referred to more favorably in the media.
California Water Service Group pays an annual dividend of $1.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. American States Water pays an annual dividend of $1.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. California Water Service Group pays out 44.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American States Water pays out 51.0% 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 a net margin of 20.97% compared to California Water Service Group's net margin of 15.42%. American States Water's return on equity of 13.54% beat California Water Service Group's return on equity.
California Water Service Group has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American States Water has a beta of 0.43, meaning that its stock price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American States Water has lower revenue, but higher earnings than California Water Service Group. California Water Service 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.
Summary
California Water Service Group and American States Water tied by winning 10 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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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.
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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