American Water Works vs H2O America

Add, change or remove companies; up to four.

KIRA’s take AI analyst

I put American Water Works and H2O America 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 $801M for H2O America, about 6.4 times as much.
American Water Works grew revenue faster (9.7%, against 7.0%).
American Water Works kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (36.6% operating margin, against 22.2%).
American Water Works earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (5.8%, against 4.9%).
Investors pay more for each dollar of American Water Works’s earnings: a P/E of 24.5x against 21.0x for H2O America.

Who comes out ahead

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

American Water Works

AWK

8/9

Revenue growthOperating marginNet marginReturn on capitalReturn on equityPiotroski F-scoreNet debt / EBITDAShare count change

H2O America

HTO

1/9

5-year growth

Side by side

Best in the row

Latest fiscal year	AWK FY25	HTO FY25
Size
Market cap	$27.7B	$2.4B
Revenue	$5.1B	$801M
Free cash flow	−$1.1B	—
Net income	$1.1B	$103M
Growth
Revenue growth	9.7%	7.0%
5-year growth	6.4%	7.2%
Share count change	0.0%	7.1%
Profitability
Gross margin	—	—
Operating margin	36.6%	22.2%
Net margin	21.6%	12.8%
FCF margin	−20.8%	—
Return on capital	5.8%	4.9%
Return on equity	10.5%	7.1%
Balance sheet
Net debt	$15.7B	$1.9B
Net debt / EBITDA	5.7x	6.3x
Dividends and buybacks	$633M	$58.6M
Valuation & quality
P/E	24.5x	21.0x
Piotroski F-score	6	4

Ten years

Revenue

FY16

AWK $3.3B

HTO $340M

FY17

AWK $3.4B

HTO $389M

FY18

AWK $3.4B

HTO $398M

FY19

AWK $3.6B

HTO $421M

FY20

AWK $3.8B

HTO $565M

FY21

AWK $3.9B

HTO $574M

FY22

AWK $3.8B

HTO $621M

FY23

AWK $4.2B

HTO $670M

FY24

AWK $4.7B

HTO $748M

FY25

AWK $5.1B

HTO $801M

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK HTO

Operating margin

FY16

AWK 32.9%

HTO 28.7%

FY17

AWK 37.3%

HTO 26.2%

FY18

AWK 32.0%

HTO 18.5%

FY19

AWK 33.6%

HTO 13.7%

FY20

AWK 33.0%

HTO 20.8%

FY21

AWK 30.4%

HTO 19.4%

FY22

AWK 33.6%

HTO 21.1%

FY23

AWK 35.5%

HTO 22.3%

FY24

AWK 36.7%

HTO 22.8%

FY25

AWK 36.6%

HTO 22.2%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK HTO

Free cash flow

FY16

AWK −$22.0M

HTO —

FY17

AWK $15.0M

HTO —

FY18

AWK −$200M

HTO —

FY19

AWK −$271M

HTO —

FY20

AWK −$396M

HTO —

FY21

AWK −$323M

HTO —

FY22

AWK −$1.2B

HTO —

FY23

AWK −$701M

HTO —

FY24

AWK −$811M

HTO —

FY25

AWK −$1.1B

HTO —

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK HTO

Return on capital

FY16

AWK 5.5%

HTO 7.4%

FY17

AWK 4.9%

HTO 7.4%

FY18

AWK 5.8%

HTO 6.5%

FY19

AWK 6.1%

HTO 2.8%

FY20

AWK 5.9%

HTO 4.7%

FY21

AWK 5.3%

HTO 4.1%

FY22

AWK 5.4%

HTO 4.6%

FY23

AWK 5.7%

HTO 5.2%

FY24

AWK 5.8%

HTO 5.3%

FY25

AWK 5.8%

HTO 4.9%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

AWK HTO

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.