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Water utility holding company; Golden State Water supplies regulated water to California, plus a US military-base utility contractor.
Water utility holding company; Golden State Water supplies regulated water to California, plus a US military-base utility contractor.
Earns an allowed return on the water systems it owns, set by California's utility regulator in rate cases roughly every three years, so investment in pipes and plants is what grows earnings. Its contracting arm operates water and wastewater systems on military bases under very long-term contracts with annual price adjustments.
Moat: wide (regulatory licence, scale). Regulated monopoly service territories and long-term military utility contracts are protected franchises.
Headquarters: San Dimas, California · Founded: 1929 · Employees: 900
Size American States Water (AWR) is a United States Utilities company (Water Utilities) with a market value of $3.57B, the 1421st largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $89.98 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 16.6%, against -2.8% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 3rd highest of 15 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 13.2% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.9%); the operating margin is 31.9% (peer median 24.2%).
Valuation It trades at 23.9× forward earnings against a peer median of 14.8× (most expensive of 13).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 9% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +6%, so the hurdle is +3 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 1.6 points above its cost of capital (7.1% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $4.20B at 31 Dec 2025, up 2% on a year earlier — 6.4 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Short interest Short interest is 2.4% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 24 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $697M | $658M | $595M | $596M | $492M |
| Revenue growth | — | +11% | 0% | +21% | — |
| Gross profit | $355M | $334M | $313M | $309M | $236M |
| EBITDA | $273M | $252M | $229M | $240M | $168M |
| Net income | $143M | $130M | $119M | $125M | $78.2M |
| Free cash flow | $20.7M | -$7.09M | -$33.2M | -$121M | -$48.4M |
| Capital expenditure | $216M | $237M | $232M | $189M | $166M |
| Total debt | $917M | $938M | $938M | $918M | $734M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American States Water AWR | $3.57B | +17% | +13% | 32% | 23.9× | 9.3% |
| California Water Service CWT | $3.21B | +17% | +7% | 21% | 19.0× | n/a |
| H2O America HTO | $3.04B | +9% | +4% | 21% | 22.5× | n/a |
| American Water Works AWK | $29.9B | +21% | +5% | 37% | 23.9× | n/a |
| Essential Utilities WTRG | $12.9B | +21% | +9% | 36% | 19.8× | n/a |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | AWR | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +10.0% | +2.6% | 4th highest of 15 |
| 6-month return | +16.6% | -2.8% | 3rd highest of 15 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -2.1% | -12.6% | 4th highest of 15 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +13.2% | +6.9% | 5th highest of 15 |
| Operating margin | 31.9% | 24.2% | 3rd highest of 15 |
| Forward P/E | 23.9× | 14.8× | most expensive of 13 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 9.3% | -1.8% | 2nd most demanding of 8 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +6.2% | +3.5% | 4th highest of 8 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +3.2 pp | -8.2 pp | most demanding of 8 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +1.6 pp | -1.7 pp | 5th highest of 15 |
| EV / EBITDA | 16.3× | 14.8× | 2nd most expensive of 8 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.3× | 5.0× | 2nd least indebted of 8 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American States Water AWR | United States | $3.57B | +17% | +13% | 32% | 23.9× | 9.3% | +6.2% |
| Chengdu Xingrong Environment 000598.SZ | China | $3.27B | +7% | +1% | 29% | 10.3× | -8.2% | +10.8% |
| California Water Service CWT | United States | $3.21B | +17% | +7% | 21% | 19.0× | n/a | n/a |
| Pennon PNN.L | United Kingdom | $3.18B | -35% | +23% | 25% | 13.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Beijing Capital Eco-Environment Protection 600008.SS | China | $3.09B | -8% | -8% | 21% | 10.8× | 0.3% | -0.4% |
| H2O America HTO | United States | $3.04B | +9% | +4% | 21% | 22.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Chongqing Water 601158.SS | China | $3.01B | -6% | +1% | 14% | 22.6× | -5.0% | +3.5% |
| Zhongshan Public Utilities 000685.SZ | China | $2.36B | -8% | -11% | 11% | 6.2× | 9.9% | +16.2% |
| Guangdong Investment 0270.HK | Hong Kong | $6.81B | 0% | +25% | 38% | 10.8× | -1.8% | -4.1% |
| Jiangxi Hongcheng Environment 600461.SS | China | $1.69B | -17% | -11% | 24% | 9.1× | -10.2% | +2.6% |
| Indium Target Advanced Materials (Harbin) 000711.SZ | China | $1.54B | -27% | +46% | -4% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Middlesex Water MSEX | United States | $1.15B | +16% | +9% | 31% | 21.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Guangdong Shunkong Development 003039.SZ | China | $1.12B | -16% | +6% | 25% | n/a | 4.3% | +12.5% |
| Essential Utilities WTRG | United States | $12.9B | +21% | +9% | 36% | 19.8× | n/a | n/a |
| Severn Trent SVT.L | United Kingdom | $13.4B | +6% | +17% | 30% | 16.3× | n/a | n/a |
American States Water reported $4.20B of remaining performance obligations at 31 Dec 2025, up 2% from a year earlier. That is 6.4 years of trailing revenue already under contract.