American Water Works (AWK) Competitors

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

Do analysts prefer AWR or AWK?

American States Water presently has a consensus target price of $74.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.70%. American Water Works has a consensus target price of $141.86, indicating a potential upside of 1.82%. Given American Water Works' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe American Water Works is more favorable than American States Water.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American States Water	2 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.00
American Water Works	2 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media refer more to AWR or AWK?

In the previous week, American Water Works had 32 more articles in the media than American States Water. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for American Water Works and 6 mentions for American States Water. American Water Works' average media sentiment score of 1.25 beat American States Water's score of 1.24 indicating that American Water Works is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
American States Water	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Water Works	26 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	9 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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

75.2% of American States Water shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.6% of American Water Works shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of American States Water shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of American Water Works shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has higher valuation & earnings, AWR or AWK?

American Water Works has higher revenue and earnings than American States Water. American States Water is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Water Works, 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	$595.46M	4.69	$119.27M	$3.17	23.51
American Water Works	$4.68B	5.80	$1.05B	$5.39	25.85

Which has more volatility & risk, AWR or AWK?

American States Water has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its stock price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Water Works has a beta of 0.69, suggesting that its stock price is 31% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AWR or AWK?

American Water Works received 266 more outperform votes than American States Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.94% of users gave American Water Works an outperform vote while only 50.33% of users gave American States Water an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
American States Water	Outperform Votes 227 50.33%	Underperform Votes 224 49.67%
American Water Works	Outperform Votes 493 63.94%	Underperform Votes 278 36.06%

Is AWR or AWK a better dividend stock?

American States Water pays an annual dividend of $1.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. American Water Works pays an annual dividend of $3.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. American States Water pays out 58.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Water Works pays out 56.8% 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 American Water Works has increased its dividend for 17 consecutive years. American States Water is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Is AWR or AWK more profitable?

American Water Works has a net margin of 22.44% compared to American States Water's net margin of 20.03%. American States Water's return on equity of 13.63% beat American Water Works' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American States Water	20.03%	13.63%	4.89%
American Water Works	22.44%	10.29%	3.31%

Summary

American Water Works beats American States Water on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.