Middlesex Water (MSEX) Competitors

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) and AquaVenture (NYSE:WAAS) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, community ranking, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend MSEX or WAAS?

Middlesex Water presently has a consensus price target of $61.00, suggesting a potential downside of 7.56%. Given Middlesex Water's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Middlesex Water is more favorable than AquaVenture.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Middlesex Water	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
AquaVenture	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Is MSEX or WAAS more profitable?

Middlesex Water has a net margin of 22.53% compared to AquaVenture's net margin of -9.87%. Middlesex Water's return on equity of 9.58% beat AquaVenture's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Middlesex Water	22.53%	9.58%	3.31%
AquaVenture	-9.87%	-4.61%	-2.23%

Does the media prefer MSEX or WAAS?

In the previous week, Middlesex Water had 2 more articles in the media than AquaVenture. MarketBeat recorded 2 mentions for Middlesex Water and 0 mentions for AquaVenture. Middlesex Water's average media sentiment score of 0.63 beat AquaVenture's score of 0.00 indicating that Middlesex Water is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Middlesex Water	Positive
AquaVenture	Neutral

Which has better earnings & valuation, MSEX or WAAS?

Middlesex Water has higher earnings, but lower revenue than AquaVenture. AquaVenture is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Middlesex 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
Middlesex Water	$183.37M	6.43	$31.52M	$2.30	28.69
AquaVenture	$203.49M	4.25	-$20.08M	-$0.48	-56.31

Do insiders & institutionals believe in MSEX or WAAS?

79.5% of Middlesex Water shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 48.4% of AquaVenture shares are held by institutional investors. 1.9% of Middlesex Water shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 53.3% of AquaVenture shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, MSEX or WAAS?

Middlesex Water has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AquaVenture has a beta of 0.88, suggesting that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MSEX or WAAS?

Middlesex Water received 7 more outperform votes than AquaVenture when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.77% of users gave AquaVenture an outperform vote while only 60.89% of users gave Middlesex Water an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Middlesex Water	Outperform Votes 232 60.89%	Underperform Votes 149 39.11%
AquaVenture	Outperform Votes 225 67.77%	Underperform Votes 107 32.23%

Summary

Middlesex Water beats AquaVenture on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.