American Water Works
AWK · Water Utilities
$142.75
0.3%California Water Service Group
CWT · Water Utilities
$48.04
1.1%The short version
- American Water Works is the larger business, with $5.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $964M for California Water Service Group, about 5.3 times as much.
- American Water Works grew revenue faster (9.7%, against 6.4%).
- American Water Works kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (36.6% operating margin, against 17.7% operating margin).
- American Water Works earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (5.8%, against 4.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of American Water Works’s earnings: a P/E of 24.7x against 21.6x for California Water Service Group.
| Latest fiscal year | AWK · FY25 | CWT · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $28.0B | $2.9B |
| Revenue | $5.1B | $964M |
| Free cash flow | −$1.1B | — |
| Net income | $1.1B | $128M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 9.7% | 6.4% |
| 5-year growth | 6.4% | 6.7% |
| Share count change | 0.0% | 1.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 36.6% | 17.7% |
| Net margin | 21.6% | 13.3% |
| FCF margin | −20.8% | — |
| Return on capital | 5.8% | 4.8% |
| Return on equity | 10.5% | 7.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $15.7B | $1.6B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.7x | 4.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $633M | $75.3M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 24.7x | 21.6x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 4 |
FY16
AWK $3.3B
CWT $590M
FY17
AWK $3.4B
CWT $623M
FY18
AWK $3.4B
CWT $675M
FY19
AWK $3.6B
CWT $664M
FY20
AWK $3.8B
CWT $698M
FY21
AWK $3.9B
CWT $766M
FY22
AWK $3.8B
CWT $773M
FY23
AWK $4.2B
CWT $790M
FY24
AWK $4.7B
CWT $906M
FY25
AWK $5.1B
CWT $964M
AWK
CWT
FY16
AWK 32.9%
CWT 14.0%
FY17
AWK 37.3%
CWT 17.2%
FY18
AWK 32.0%
CWT 16.4%
FY19
AWK 33.6%
CWT 15.0%
FY20
AWK 33.0%
CWT 19.6%
FY21
AWK 30.4%
CWT 16.6%
FY22
AWK 33.6%
CWT 16.5%
FY23
AWK 35.5%
CWT 9.8%
FY24
AWK 36.7%
CWT 24.9%
FY25
AWK 36.6%
CWT 17.7%
AWK
CWT
FY16
AWK −$22.0M
CWT —
FY17
AWK $15.0M
CWT —
FY18
AWK −$200M
CWT —
FY19
AWK −$271M
CWT —
FY20
AWK −$396M
CWT —
FY21
AWK −$323M
CWT —
FY22
AWK −$1.2B
CWT —
FY23
AWK −$701M
CWT —
FY24
AWK −$811M
CWT —
FY25
AWK −$1.1B
CWT —
AWK
CWT
FY16
AWK 5.5%
CWT 4.3%
FY17
AWK 4.9%
CWT 5.3%
FY18
AWK 5.8%
CWT 6.0%
FY19
AWK 6.1%
CWT 4.7%
FY20
AWK 5.9%
CWT 6.5%
FY21
AWK 5.3%
CWT 5.8%
FY22
AWK 5.4%
CWT 5.2%
FY23
AWK 5.7%
CWT 3.1%
FY24
AWK 5.8%
CWT 6.6%
FY25
AWK 5.8%
CWT 4.8%
AWK
CWT
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Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.