American States Water Company AWR reported third-quarter 2024 operating earnings per share (EPS) of 95 cents, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 99 cents by 4%.

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AWR’s Total Revenues
 

Operating revenues came in at $161.8 million, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $161 million by 0.5%. The top line also rose 6.6% from $151.7 million reported in the prior-year period.

Highlights of AWR’s Release
 

Operating expenses in the quarter totaled $106.7 million, up 6.8% from the year-ago quarter’s $99.9 million. This was due to higher water purchased for pumping expenses, administrative and general costs and other operation costs.

The operating income totaled $55.1 million, up 6.4% from $51.8 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2023.

Interest expenses amounted to $13.2 million, up 13.1% year over year. Interest income totaled $1.7 million, down 18.2% year over year.

AWR’s Segmental Details
 

Earnings from the Water segment came in at 84 cents per share, up 16.7% from 72 cents a year ago.

EPS from the Electric segment was 2 cents, down by 2 cents from the year-ago quarter’s level.

EPS from the Contracted Services segment was 11 cents, down 8.3% year over year.

The loss from AWR (Parent) was 2 cents per share, in line with the year-ago quarter’s loss.

AWR’s Financial Update
 

As of Sept. 30, AWR’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $16.5 million compared with $14.1 million as of Dec. 31, 2023.

As of Sept. 30, the company’s long-term debt was $640.2 million compared with $575.6 million as of Dec. 31, 2023.

In the first nine months of 2024, cash provided by operating activities totaled $134.2 million compared with $56.5 million in the year-ago period.

AWR’s Zacks Rank
 

American States Water currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Recent Releases
 

Essential Utilities Inc. WTRG delivered a third-quarter 2024 operating EPS of 25 cents, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 23 cents by 8.7%.

Operating revenues of $435 million surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $420 million by 3.8%. Total revenues were up 5.8% year over year.

California Water Service Group CWT recorded third-quarter 2024 adjusted earnings of $1.03 per share, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.09 per share by 5.5%. However, the bottom line increased from the year-ago quarter’s figure of 60 cents.

Operating revenues totaled $299.6 million, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $269 million by 11.6%. The top line also increased 17.5% from $255 million recorded in the prior-year quarter.

American Water Works Company AWK posted a third-quarter 2024 operating EPS of $1.80, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.84 by 2.2%. The bottom line improved 8.4% from the year-ago quarter's $1.66.

Total quarterly revenues of $1.32 billion surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.2 billion by 9.8%. The top line also increased 13.4% from the year-ago figure of $1.16 billion.

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