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Regulated natural gas utility holding company serving Oregon and southwest Washington, with growing water utility investments.
Regulated natural gas utility holding company serving Oregon and southwest Washington, with growing water utility investments.
Earns a return approved by state regulators on the pipes and equipment it owns, so profit grows as it invests more and as regulators allow rate increases. Oregon's rules adjust revenue for weather and customer count, softening swings from warm winters. Water utilities in several states are the newest line, built by acquisition under a holding company formed in 2018.
Moat: wide (regulatory licence, scale). Exclusive regulated service territory with state-approved rate-base returns.
Headquarters: Portland, Oregon, US · Founded: 1859 · Employees: 1,298
Size Northwest Natural (NWN) is a United States Utilities company (Gas Distributors) with a market value of $2.18B, the 1738th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $51.75 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 2.6%, against -13.5% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 4th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 4.4% over the last twelve months (peer median +2.5%); the operating margin is 35.6% (peer median 7.5%).
Valuation It trades at 16.6× forward earnings against a peer median of 12.3× (8th most expensive of 18).
Capital Return on invested capital runs 2.5 points above its cost of capital (6.1% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $119M at 30 Jun 2026, down 6% on a year earlier — 0.1 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Credit Northwest Natural has 1 bond outstanding ($325M), rated BBB by the agencies.
Short interest Short interest is 4.6% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 19 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.29B | $1.29B | $1.15B | $1.20B | $1.04B |
| Revenue growth | — | +12% | -4% | +15% | — |
| Gross profit | $566M | $510M | $418M | $27.9M | $26.4M |
| EBITDA | $672M | $609M | $487M | $69.1M | $74.6M |
| Net income | $126M | $113M | $78.9M | $93.9M | $86.3M |
| Free cash flow | -$266M | -$198M | -$194M | -$47.4M | -$192M |
| Capital expenditure | $479M | $467M | $394M | $327M | $339M |
| Total debt | $2.70B | $2.68B | $1.96B | $1.75B | $1.68B |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest Natural NWN | $2.18B | +3% | +4% | 36% | 16.6× | n/a |
| Avista AVA | $3.37B | -1% | -1% | 19% | 15.0× | n/a |
| Spire SR | $5.25B | +4% | +4% | 20% | 17.9× | n/a |
| American States Water AWR | $3.57B | +17% | +13% | 32% | 23.9× | 9.3% |
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 | NWN | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +8.3% | -1.5% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +2.6% | -13.5% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -7.6% | -25.6% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +4.4% | +2.5% | 7th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 35.6% | 7.5% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 16.6× | 12.3× | 8th most expensive of 18 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +2.5 pp | -0.8 pp | 9th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 7.2× | 10.9× | 2nd cheapest of 11 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.0× | 4.5× | 6th least indebted of 12 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest Natural NWN | United States | $2.18B | +3% | +4% | 36% | 16.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Foran Energy 002911.SZ | China | $2.27B | -5% | -10% | 4% | 12.3× | -6.9% | +34.8% |
| Kogas 036460.KS | South Korea | $2.31B | -7% | -10% | 7% | 2.9× | -1.5% | +11.4% |
| Centuri CTRI | United States | $2.06B | -41% | +25% | 3% | 27.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Keppel Infrastructure Trust A7RU.SI | Singapore | $2.34B | -8% | +4% | 10% | 23.5× | 8.7% | +8.7% |
| Shenzhen Gas 601139.SS | China | $2.79B | -7% | -1% | 7% | 10.7× | -9.2% | +14.7% |
| NIPPON GAS 8174.T | Japan | $1.69B | +1% | +8% | 9% | 17.7× | -2.9% | +7.8% |
| TOHO GAS 9533.T | Japan | $2.83B | +3% | -2% | 1% | 21.3× | 24.6% | +8.4% |
| Shanghai Dazhong Public Utilities (Group) 600635.SS | China | $1.59B | -23% | +3% | 4% | n/a | 10.6% | +4.5% |
| Xinjiang Xintai Natural Gas 603393.SS | China | $1.55B | -22% | +4% | 22% | 11.1× | -8.4% | +12.3% |
| SK Gas 018670.KS | South Korea | $1.55B | -19% | +27% | 4% | 7.1× | -17.3% | +11.7% |
| Towngas Smart Energy 1083.HK | Hong Kong | $1.46B | -15% | +3% | 6% | 7.5× | 6.3% | +10.3% |
| China Suntien Green Energy 0956.HK | Hong Kong | $3.37B | -15% | -8% | 13% | 6.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Chesapeake Utilities CPK | United States | $3.38B | +11% | +15% | 27% | 20.4× | n/a | n/a |
| China Gas 0384.HK | Hong Kong | $3.52B | -31% | -7% | 8% | 9.9× | 3.8% | +1.0% |
| Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA Sponsored ADR Class B RegS TGS | United States | $3.80B | -27% | +11% | 44% | 8.2× | -14.6% | +11.8% |
| MDU Resources MDU | United States | $3.92B | -17% | -30% | 17% | 18.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Shaanxi Provincial Natural Gas 002267.SZ | China | $1.17B | -11% | +2% | 8% | 12.5× | -5.1% | +1.0% |
| Excelerate Energy EE | United States | $4.17B | +9% | +49% | 22% | 18.6× | 18.1% | +23.3% |
| Chengdu Gas 603053.SS | China | $1.09B | -16% | -1% | 6% | n/a | -10.0% | +5.1% |
| Chongqing Gas 600917.SS | China | $1.07B | -12% | -4% | 0% | n/a | 15.0% | +8.6% |
Northwest Natural has 1 bond outstanding with $325M face value. The agencies rate it BBB.
Northwest Natural reported $119M of remaining performance obligations at 30 Jun 2026, down 6% from a year earlier and up 6% from the previous quarter. That is 0.1 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.03.