NW Natural
NWN · Gas Utilities
$49.87
0.1%Southwest Gas
SWX · Gas Utilities
$91.15
0.1%The short version
- Southwest Gas is the larger business, with $1.9B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.3B for NW Natural, about 1.5 times as much.
- NW Natural grew revenue faster (11.8%, against −21.6%).
- Southwest Gas kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (24.4% operating margin, against 21.8% operating margin).
- Southwest Gas turned more of its sales into free cash flow (−13.0% FCF margin, against −15.3% FCF margin).
- NW Natural earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (5.7%, against 4.7%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of NW Natural’s earnings: a P/E of 16.5x against 12.1x for Southwest Gas.
| Latest fiscal year | NWN · FY25 | SWX · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.1B | $6.6B |
| Revenue | $1.3B | $1.9B |
| Free cash flow | −$198M | −$252M |
| Net income | $113M | $440M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 11.8% | −21.6% |
| 5-year growth | 10.8% | −10.1% |
| Share count change | 5.4% | 0.4% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 21.8% | 24.4% |
| Net margin | 8.8% | 22.7% |
| FCF margin | −15.3% | −13.0% |
| Return on capital | 5.7% | 4.7% |
| Return on equity | 7.9% | 11.8% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $2.6B | $2.9B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 5.8x | 3.6x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $77.3M | $179M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 16.5x | 12.1x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
FY16
NWN $668M
SWX $2.5B
FY17
NWN $755M
SWX $2.5B
FY18
NWN $706M
SWX $2.9B
FY19
NWN $746M
SWX $3.1B
FY20
NWN $774M
SWX $3.3B
FY21
NWN $860M
SWX $3.7B
FY22
NWN $1.0B
SWX $5.0B
FY23
NWN $1.2B
SWX $2.5B
FY24
NWN $1.2B
SWX $2.5B
FY25
NWN $1.3B
SWX $1.9B
NWN
SWX
FY16
NWN 22.6%
SWX 12.8%
FY17
NWN 20.0%
SWX 13.5%
FY18
NWN 18.7%
SWX 12.4%
FY19
NWN 19.2%
SWX 11.9%
FY20
NWN 19.2%
SWX 12.8%
FY21
NWN 19.0%
SWX 10.0%
FY22
NWN 16.1%
SWX −0.5%
FY23
NWN 15.4%
SWX 11.6%
FY24
NWN 16.6%
SWX 16.4%
FY25
NWN 21.8%
SWX 24.4%
NWN
SWX
FY16
NWN $83.8M
SWX $71.0M
FY17
NWN −$6.6M
SWX −$254M
FY18
NWN −$45.9M
SWX −$237M
FY19
NWN −$37.5M
SWX −$438M
FY20
NWN −$128M
SWX −$199M
FY21
NWN −$134M
SWX −$604M
FY22
NWN −$191M
SWX −$452M
FY23
NWN −$47.4M
SWX −$257M
FY24
NWN −$194M
SWX $509M
FY25
NWN −$198M
SWX −$252M
NWN
SWX
FY16
NWN —
SWX —
FY17
NWN —
SWX 7.3%
FY18
NWN 5.9%
SWX 6.5%
FY19
NWN 6.7%
SWX 6.2%
FY20
NWN 5.7%
SWX 6.3%
FY21
NWN 5.4%
SWX 5.7%
FY22
NWN 4.9%
SWX −0.4%
FY23
NWN 4.9%
SWX 3.5%
FY24
NWN 4.5%
SWX 4.4%
FY25
NWN 5.7%
SWX 4.7%
NWN
SWX
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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.