Middlesex Water (MSEX) Competitors

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) and Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) are both utilities companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership and media sentiment.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AWR or MSEX?

Middlesex Water received 5 more outperform votes than American States Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.73% of users gave Middlesex Water an outperform vote while only 50.78% of users gave American States Water an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
American States Water	Outperform Votes 227 50.78%	Underperform Votes 220 49.22%
Middlesex Water	Outperform Votes 232 60.73%	Underperform Votes 150 39.27%

Which has more risk and volatility, AWR or MSEX?

American States Water has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its share price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Middlesex Water has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better earnings & valuation, AWR or MSEX?

American States Water has higher revenue and earnings than Middlesex Water. Middlesex Water is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American States Water, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
American States Water	$577.54M	5.34	$124.92M	$2.97	27.74
Middlesex Water	$183.37M	5.74	$31.52M	$2.30	25.63

Do analysts prefer AWR or MSEX?

American States Water presently has a consensus price target of $86.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.38%. Middlesex Water has a consensus price target of $58.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.76%. Given American States Water's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe American States Water is more favorable than Middlesex Water.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American States Water	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Middlesex Water	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.67

Is AWR or MSEX a better dividend stock?

American States Water pays an annual dividend of $1.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Middlesex Water pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. American States Water pays out 62.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Middlesex Water pays out 59.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. American States Water has increased its dividend for 71 consecutive years and Middlesex Water has increased its dividend for 52 consecutive years. Middlesex Water is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of AWR or MSEX?

75.2% of American States Water shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Middlesex Water shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of American States Water shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.9% of Middlesex Water shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AWR or MSEX more profitable?

Middlesex Water has a net margin of 22.53% compared to American States Water's net margin of 19.26%. American States Water's return on equity of 13.53% beat Middlesex Water's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American States Water	19.26%	13.53%	4.78%
Middlesex Water	22.53%	9.58%	3.31%

Does the media prefer AWR or MSEX?

In the previous week, American States Water had 4 more articles in the media than Middlesex Water. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for American States Water and 6 mentions for Middlesex Water. American States Water's average media sentiment score of 0.75 beat Middlesex Water's score of 0.60 indicating that American States Water is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American States Water	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Middlesex Water	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

American States Water beats Middlesex Water on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.