California Water Service Group (CWT) Competitors

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) and California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) are both mid-cap utilities companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, community ranking, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations and media sentiment.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AWR or CWT?

California Water Service Group received 52 more outperform votes than American States Water when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 53.24% of users gave California Water Service Group 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%
California Water Service Group	Outperform Votes 279 53.24%	Underperform Votes 245 46.76%

Which has higher earnings and valuation, AWR or CWT?

American States Water has higher earnings, but lower revenue than California Water Service Group. California Water Service Group 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	$595.46M	4.69	$119.27M	$3.17	23.51
California Water Service Group	$1.04B	2.61	$51.91M	$3.27	13.91

Do analysts prefer AWR or CWT?

American States Water currently has a consensus target price of $74.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.70%. California Water Service Group has a consensus target price of $53.25, suggesting a potential upside of 17.08%. Given California Water Service Group's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe California Water Service Group 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
California Water Service Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Does the media prefer AWR or CWT?

In the previous week, California Water Service Group had 1 more articles in the media than American States Water. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for California Water Service Group and 6 mentions for American States Water. American States Water's average media sentiment score of 1.33 beat California Water Service Group's score of 1.04 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	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
California Water Service Group	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of AWR or CWT?

75.2% of American States Water shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of California Water Service Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of American States Water shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of California Water Service Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AWR or CWT more profitable?

American States Water has a net margin of 20.03% compared to California Water Service Group's net margin of 19.56%. American States Water's return on equity of 13.63% beat California Water Service Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American States Water	20.03%	13.63%	4.89%
California Water Service Group	19.56%	13.24%	4.18%

Which has more volatility and risk, AWR or CWT?

American States Water has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, California Water Service Group has a beta of 0.49, indicating that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AWR or CWT a better dividend stock?

American States Water pays an annual dividend of $1.86 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. California Water Service Group pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. American States Water pays out 58.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. California Water Service Group pays out 36.7% 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 raised its dividend for 71 consecutive years and California Water Service Group has raised its dividend for 59 consecutive years. California Water Service Group is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

California Water Service Group beats American States Water on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.