California Water Service Group vs Essential Utilities
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The short version
- Essential Utilities is the larger business, with $2.5B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $964M for California Water Service Group, about 2.6 times as much.
- Essential Utilities grew revenue faster (18.6%, against 6.4%).
- Essential Utilities kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (37.2% operating margin, against 17.7%).
- Essential Utilities earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (6.4%, against 4.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Essential Utilities’s earnings: a P/E of 22.0x against 21.6x for California Water Service Group.
| Latest fiscal year | CWT · FY25 | WTRG · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.9B | $12.2B |
| Revenue | $964M | $2.5B |
| Free cash flow | — | −$420M |
| Net income | $128M | $616M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 6.4% | 18.6% |
| 5-year growth | 6.7% | 11.1% |
| Share count change | 1.7% | 2.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 17.7% | 37.2% |
| Net margin | 13.3% | 24.9% |
| FCF margin | — | −17.0% |
| Return on capital | 4.8% | 6.4% |
| Return on equity | 7.7% | 9.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.6B | $8.1B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.9x | 6.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $75.3M | $376M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 21.6x | 22.0x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 5 |
Revenue
FY16
CWT $590M
WTRG $820M
FY17
CWT $623M
WTRG $810M
FY18
CWT $675M
WTRG $838M
FY19
CWT $664M
WTRG $890M
FY20
CWT $698M
WTRG $1.5B
FY21
CWT $766M
WTRG $1.9B
FY22
CWT $773M
WTRG $2.3B
FY23
CWT $790M
WTRG $2.1B
FY24
CWT $906M
WTRG $2.1B
FY25
CWT $964M
WTRG $2.5B
CWT
WTRG
Operating margin
FY16
CWT 14.0%
WTRG 40.7%
FY17
CWT 17.2%
WTRG 41.3%
FY18
CWT 16.4%
WTRG 38.6%
FY19
CWT 15.0%
WTRG 38.2%
FY20
CWT 19.6%
WTRG 29.7%
FY21
CWT 16.6%
WTRG 32.1%
FY22
CWT 16.5%
WTRG 28.9%
FY23
CWT 9.8%
WTRG 33.7%
FY24
CWT 24.9%
WTRG 36.3%
FY25
CWT 17.7%
WTRG 37.2%
CWT
WTRG
Free cash flow
FY16
CWT —
WTRG $13.2M
FY17
CWT —
WTRG −$96.8M
FY18
CWT —
WTRG −$127M
FY19
CWT —
WTRG −$212M
FY20
CWT —
WTRG −$328M
FY21
CWT —
WTRG −$376M
FY22
CWT —
WTRG −$462M
FY23
CWT —
WTRG −$266M
FY24
CWT —
WTRG −$559M
FY25
CWT —
WTRG −$420M
CWT
WTRG
Return on capital
FY16
CWT 4.3%
WTRG 10.2%
FY17
CWT 5.3%
WTRG 9.6%
FY18
CWT 6.0%
WTRG 9.2%
FY19
CWT 4.7%
WTRG 9.1%
FY20
CWT 6.5%
WTRG 7.5%
FY21
CWT 5.8%
WTRG 7.6%
FY22
CWT 5.2%
WTRG 7.9%
FY23
CWT 3.1%
WTRG 6.5%
FY24
CWT 6.6%
WTRG 5.7%
FY25
CWT 4.8%
WTRG 6.4%
CWT
WTRG
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.