Here's Why You Should Add American States Water (AWR) Stock
American States Water Company’s AWR electricity and water utility customer base is expanding steadily. Systematic investments, regular dividend hikes and strong credit rating are tailwinds for the company.
Let’s focus on the factors that make this Utility - Water Supply company an attractive investment option.
Zacks Rank & Price Performance
American States Water sports a Zacks Rank #1(Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Shares of the company have rallied 26% in the past 12 months compared with the industry’s growth of 16.2%.
Growth Projections
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2020 earnings is pegged at $2.23 per share on revenues of $477 million. The bottom-line figure suggests a 4.69% year-over-year increase. The same for the top line calls for a 0.66% rise on a year-on-year basis.
Dividend Payment
American States Water Company has been a steady dividend payer. In fact, the company has paid out dividends to shareholders every year since 1931 and increased the same in each calendar year for the last 65 years. Its objective is to achieve 7% compounded annual growth over the long term.
Debt-to-Capital & Current Ratio
The debt-to-capital is a good indicator of the financial position of a company. The indicator shows how much debt is used to run the business. The company has a debt-to-capital of 45.03% compared with the industry’s 46.23%. Currently, the company has a current ratio of 1.06, which will enable it to meet near-term debt obligations.
Return on Equity (ROE)
ROE is a measure of a company’s efficiency in utilizing shareholder’s funds. ROE for the trailing 12 months for American States Water is 13.48% compared with the industry’s ROE of 8.49%.
Other Key Picks
Some other top-ranked stocks from the same sector are NorthWestern Corporation NWE, SJW Group SJW and NextEra Energy, Inc. NEE. All the three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Long-term earnings growth of SJW Group, NorthWestern and NextEra Energy is pegged at 4%, 3.30% and 7.60 %, respectively.
SJW Group, NorthWestern and NextEra Energy have trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 11.81%, 7.62% and 2.83%, on average, respectively.
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NextEra Energy, Inc. (NEE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
American States Water Company (AWR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
SJW Group (SJW) : Free Stock Analysis Report
NorthWestern Corporation (NWE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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