American Water Works vs California Water Service Group

Add, change or remove companies; up to four.

KIRA’s take AI analyst

I put American Water Works and California Water Service Group 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 $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%).
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 24.6x against 21.6x for California Water Service Group.

Who comes out ahead

Of the 9 measures where higher (or lower) is clearly better, how many each company leads.

American Water Works

AWK

7/9

Revenue growthOperating marginNet marginReturn on capitalReturn on equityPiotroski F-scoreShare count change

California Water Service Group

CWT

2/9

5-year growthNet debt / EBITDA

Side by side

Best in the row

Latest fiscal year	AWK FY25	CWT FY25
Size
Market cap	$27.8B	$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	24.6x	21.6x
Piotroski F-score	6	4

Ten years

Revenue

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

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK CWT

Operating margin

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%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK CWT

Free cash flow

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 —

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK CWT

Return on capital

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%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK CWT

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.