American Water Works vs American States Water

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KIRA’s take AI analyst

I put American Water Works and American States Water side by side, using each one’s latest annual report. Here is what stands out:

American Water Works is the larger business, with $5.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $658M for American States Water, about 7.8 times as much.
American States Water grew revenue faster (10.5%, against 9.7%).
American Water Works kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (36.6% operating margin, against 30.9%).
American States Water turned more of its sales into free cash flow (−1.1% FCF margin, against −20.8%).
American States Water earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (9.3%, against 5.8%).
Investors pay more for each dollar of American Water Works’s earnings: a P/E of 24.6x against 23.4x for American States Water.

Who comes out ahead

Of the 10 measures where higher (or lower) is clearly better, how many each company leads.

American Water Works

AWK

5/10

5-year growthOperating marginNet marginPiotroski F-scoreShare count change

American States Water

AWR

5/10

Revenue growthFCF marginReturn on capitalReturn on equityNet debt / EBITDA

Side by side

Best in the row

Latest fiscal year	AWK FY25	AWR FY25
Size
Market cap	$27.8B	$3.4B
Revenue	$5.1B	$658M
Free cash flow	−$1.1B	−$7.1M
Net income	$1.1B	$130M
Growth
Revenue growth	9.7%	10.5%
5-year growth	6.4%	6.2%
Share count change	0.0%	2.9%
Profitability
Gross margin	—	90.8%
Operating margin	36.6%	30.9%
Net margin	21.6%	19.8%
FCF margin	−20.8%	−1.1%
Return on capital	5.8%	9.3%
Return on equity	10.5%	13.3%
Balance sheet
Net debt	$15.7B	$772M
Net debt / EBITDA	5.7x	3.1x
Dividends and buybacks	$633M	$74.7M
Valuation & quality
P/E	24.6x	23.4x
Piotroski F-score	6	4

Ten years

Revenue

FY16

AWK $3.3B

AWR $436M

FY17

AWK $3.4B

AWR $441M

FY18

AWK $3.4B

AWR $437M

FY19

AWK $3.6B

AWR $474M

FY20

AWK $3.8B

AWR $488M

FY21

AWK $3.9B

AWR $499M

FY22

AWK $3.8B

AWR $492M

FY23

AWK $4.2B

AWR $596M

FY24

AWK $4.7B

AWR $596M

FY25

AWK $5.1B

AWR $658M

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK AWR

Operating margin

FY16

AWK 32.9%

AWR 26.2%

FY17

AWK 37.3%

AWR 28.9%

FY18

AWK 32.0%

AWR 23.1%

FY19

AWK 33.6%

AWR 26.8%

FY20

AWK 33.0%

AWR 26.7%

FY21

AWK 30.4%

AWR 28.3%

FY22

AWK 33.6%

AWR 25.8%

FY23

AWK 35.5%

AWR 33.0%

FY24

AWK 36.7%

AWR 31.0%

FY25

AWK 36.6%

AWR 30.9%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK AWR

Free cash flow

FY16

AWK −$22.0M

AWR −$32.9M

FY17

AWK $15.0M

AWR $31.4M

FY18

AWK −$200M

AWR $10.2M

FY19

AWK −$271M

AWR −$35.1M

FY20

AWK −$396M

AWR −$8.3M

FY21

AWK −$323M

AWR −$28.9M

FY22

AWK −$1.2B

AWR −$48.4M

FY23

AWK −$701M

AWR −$121M

FY24

AWK −$811M

AWR −$33.2M

FY25

AWK −$1.1B

AWR −$7.1M

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK AWR

Return on capital

FY16

AWK 5.5%

AWR 9.0%

FY17

AWK 4.9%

AWR 9.8%

FY18

AWK 5.8%

AWR 9.1%

FY19

AWK 6.1%

AWR 11.2%

FY20

AWK 5.9%

AWR 10.2%

FY21

AWK 5.3%

AWR 10.0%

FY22

AWK 5.4%

AWR 8.7%

FY23

AWK 5.7%

AWR 11.9%

FY24

AWK 5.8%

AWR 10.3%

FY25

AWK 5.8%

AWR 9.3%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK AWR

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.