Essential Utilities Inc. (WTRG) vs The York Water Company (YORW)

Essential Utilities Inc. and The York Water Company are both Utilities Regulated Water companies. Essential Utilities Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $11.0B against $502.6M — 21.9× the size. The York Water Company trades at the lower P/E: 19.3× against 19.9×. Essential Utilities Inc. grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 9.86% against 9.43%. The York Water Company has the higher net margin (28.5% vs 21.6%) and the higher return on invested capital (3.94% vs 3.63%). Both pay a dividend; Essential Utilities Inc. yields more (3.56% vs 2.93%). Across the 22 metrics below, The York Water Company leads on 13 and Essential Utilities Inc. on 9.

Valuation

Metric WTRG YORW Utilities Regulated Water median
P/E 19.90 19.30 20.54
P/S 4.31 5.92 4.31
P/B 1.58 1.68 1.92
Price to free cash flow n/m n/m —
EV/EBITDA 14.60 15.18 14.63
EV/Sales 7.61 8.19 6.23
Earnings yield 5.03% 5.18% 4.85%
Free cash flow yield (4.61%) (2.87%) (4.61%)

Profitability

Metric WTRG YORW Utilities Regulated Water median
Gross margin 82.59% 100.00% 71.91%
Operating margin 35.06% 36.56% 29.22%
Net margin 21.60% 28.53% 20.19%
Free cash flow margin (19.84%) (16.96%) (19.49%)
Return on equity 8.08% 9.00% 9.00%
Return on assets 2.88% 3.51% 3.21%
Return on invested capital 3.63% 3.94% 4.08%

Growth

Metric WTRG YORW Utilities Regulated Water median
Revenue growth (TTM) 9.86% 9.43% 6.92%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 1.38% (2.11%) 1.38%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 11.09% 7.55% 7.24%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR 16.69% 3.86% 9.40%

Health

Metric WTRG YORW Utilities Regulated Water median
Debt to equity 1.21 0.64 0.93
Current ratio 0.78 1.05 1.01
Net debt to EBITDA 6.16 5.54 4.42

Dividend

Metric WTRG YORW Utilities Regulated Water median
Dividend yield 3.56% 2.93% 2.84%
Payout ratio 0.71 0.57 0.57

Size

Metric WTRG YORW Utilities Regulated Water median
Market cap 10.99b 502.60m 1.00b

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