California Water Service Group vs Essential Utilities
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KIRA’s take AI analyst
I put California Water Service Group and Essential Utilities side by side, using each one’s latest annual report. Here is what stands out:
- 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 21.8x 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.
California Water Service Group
CWT
2/9
Net debt / EBITDAShare count change
Essential Utilities
WTRG
7/9
Revenue growth5-year growthOperating marginNet marginReturn on capitalReturn on equityPiotroski F-score
Side by side
Best in the row
| Latest fiscal year | CWT FY25 | WTRG FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.9B | $12.1B |
| 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 | 21.8x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 5 |
Ten years
Revenue
Operating margin
Free cash flow
Return on capital
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.