California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) & Cadiz (NASDAQ:CDZIP) Head to Head Review

Cadiz (NASDAQ:CDZIP) and California Water Service Group (NYSE:CWT) are both utilities companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, risk and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Cadiz and California Water Service Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cadiz	N/A	N/A	N/A
California Water Service Group	12.63%	7.74%	2.32%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Cadiz and California Water Service Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cadiz	$14.99 million	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
California Water Service Group	$1.00 billion	3.00	$128.21 million	$2.22	22.56

California Water Service Group has higher revenue and earnings than Cadiz.

Dividends

Cadiz pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.8%. California Water Service Group pays an annual dividend of $1.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. California Water Service Group pays out 60.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. California Water Service Group has increased its dividend for 59 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Cadiz and California Water Service Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cadiz	0	0	0	0	0.00
California Water Service Group	0	1	0	0	2.00

California Water Service Group has a consensus price target of $54.00, indicating a potential upside of 7.83%. Given California Water Service Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe California Water Service Group is more favorable than Cadiz.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

82.8% of California Water Service Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of California Water Service Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

California Water Service Group beats Cadiz on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cadiz

Cadiz Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides water solutions in the United States. The company operates through Land and Water Resources; and Water Filtration Technology segments. It offers water supply, water storage, water conveyance, and water filtration services. In addition, the company is involved in the cultivation of grain crops and alfalfa, as well as provides water filtration solutions for impaired or contaminated groundwater sources. It serves public water systems, government agencies, and other clients. Cadiz Inc. was founded in 1983 and is based in Los Angeles, California.

About California Water Service Group

California Water Service Group, through its subsidiaries, provides water utility and other related services in California, Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Texas. The company is involved in the production, purchase, storage, treatment, testing, distribution, and sale of water for domestic, industrial, public, and irrigation uses, as well as for fire protection services. It offers its services to approximately 497,700 customer connections in 100 California communities; approximately 6,500 water and wastewater customer connections on the islands of Maui, Oahu, and Hawaii; approximately 38,000 customer connections in the Tacoma, Olympia, Graham, Spanaway, Puyallup, Rainier, Yelm, and Gig Harbor areas; and approximately 11,400 water and wastewater customer connections in Rio Communities, Rio Del Oro, Meadow Lake, Indian Hills, Squaw Valley, Elephant Butte, Morningstar, Sandia Knolls, Juan Tomas, and Cypress Gardens systems. The company also engages in the provision of non-regulated water-related services, including operating of municipally owned water systems, privately owned water, and recycled water distribution systems; water system operation, meter reading, and billing services to private companies and municipalities; leasing of communication antenna sites on its properties; and billing of optional third-party insurance programs to its residential customers. In addition, it provides lab, wastewater collection, and treatment services. California Water Service Group was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.