American States Water vs California Water Service Group
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The short version
- California Water Service Group is the larger business, with $964M of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $658M for American States Water.
- American States Water grew revenue faster (10.5%, against 6.4%).
- American States Water kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (30.9% operating margin, against 17.7%).
- American States Water earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (9.3%, against 4.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of American States Water’s earnings: a P/E of 23.4x against 21.6x for California Water Service Group.
| Latest fiscal year | AWR · FY25 | CWT · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $3.4B | $2.9B |
| Revenue | $658M | $964M |
| Free cash flow | −$7.1M | — |
| Net income | $130M | $128M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 10.5% | 6.4% |
| 5-year growth | 6.2% | 6.7% |
| Share count change | 2.9% | 1.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 90.8% | — |
| Operating margin | 30.9% | 17.7% |
| Net margin | 19.8% | 13.3% |
| FCF margin | −1.1% | — |
| Return on capital | 9.3% | 4.8% |
| Return on equity | 13.3% | 7.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $772M | $1.6B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.1x | 4.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $74.7M | $75.3M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 23.4x | 21.6x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 4 |
Revenue
FY16
AWR $436M
CWT $590M
FY17
AWR $441M
CWT $623M
FY18
AWR $437M
CWT $675M
FY19
AWR $474M
CWT $664M
FY20
AWR $488M
CWT $698M
FY21
AWR $499M
CWT $766M
FY22
AWR $492M
CWT $773M
FY23
AWR $596M
CWT $790M
FY24
AWR $596M
CWT $906M
FY25
AWR $658M
CWT $964M
AWR
CWT
Operating margin
FY16
AWR 26.2%
CWT 14.0%
FY17
AWR 28.9%
CWT 17.2%
FY18
AWR 23.1%
CWT 16.4%
FY19
AWR 26.8%
CWT 15.0%
FY20
AWR 26.7%
CWT 19.6%
FY21
AWR 28.3%
CWT 16.6%
FY22
AWR 25.8%
CWT 16.5%
FY23
AWR 33.0%
CWT 9.8%
FY24
AWR 31.0%
CWT 24.9%
FY25
AWR 30.9%
CWT 17.7%
AWR
CWT
Free cash flow
FY16
AWR −$32.9M
CWT —
FY17
AWR $31.4M
CWT —
FY18
AWR $10.2M
CWT —
FY19
AWR −$35.1M
CWT —
FY20
AWR −$8.3M
CWT —
FY21
AWR −$28.9M
CWT —
FY22
AWR −$48.4M
CWT —
FY23
AWR −$121M
CWT —
FY24
AWR −$33.2M
CWT —
FY25
AWR −$7.1M
CWT —
AWR
CWT
Return on capital
FY16
AWR 9.0%
CWT 4.3%
FY17
AWR 9.8%
CWT 5.3%
FY18
AWR 9.1%
CWT 6.0%
FY19
AWR 11.2%
CWT 4.7%
FY20
AWR 10.2%
CWT 6.5%
FY21
AWR 10.0%
CWT 5.8%
FY22
AWR 8.7%
CWT 5.2%
FY23
AWR 11.9%
CWT 3.1%
FY24
AWR 10.3%
CWT 6.6%
FY25
AWR 9.3%
CWT 4.8%
AWR
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.