Analyzing Pure Cycle Corporation (PCYO) and California Water Service Group Holding (NYSE:CWT)

Pure Cycle Corporation (NASDAQ: PCYO) and California Water Service Group Holding (NYSE:CWT) are both small-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and profitabiliy.

Dividends

California Water Service Group Holding pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Pure Cycle Corporation does not pay a dividend. California Water Service Group Holding pays out 68.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Pure Cycle Corporation has raised its dividend for 49 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Pure Cycle Corporation and California Water Service Group Holding’s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pure Cycle Corporation	$719,142.00	239.47	-$1.65 million	N/A	N/A
California Water Service Group Holding	$609.68 million	3.11	$171.02 million	$1.05	37.62

California Water Service Group Holding has higher revenue and earnings than Pure Cycle Corporation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Pure Cycle Corporation and California Water Service Group Holding, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pure Cycle Corporation	0	0	1	0	3.00
California Water Service Group Holding	2	5	0	0	1.71

California Water Service Group Holding has a consensus target price of $32.25, suggesting a potential downside of 18.35%. Given California Water Service Group Holding’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe California Water Service Group Holding is more favorable than Pure Cycle Corporation.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

67.0% of Pure Cycle Corporation shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.5% of California Water Service Group Holding shares are owned by institutional investors. 4.6% of Pure Cycle Corporation shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of California Water Service Group Holding shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Pure Cycle Corporation and California Water Service Group Holding’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pure Cycle Corporation	-238.22%	-2.45%	-2.37%
California Water Service Group Holding	8.30%	7.79%	2.11%

Volatility & Risk

Pure Cycle Corporation has a beta of 1.07, suggesting that its stock price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, California Water Service Group Holding has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

California Water Service Group Holding beats Pure Cycle Corporation on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

Pure Cycle Corporation Company Profile

Pure Cycle Corporation is an integrated water company that provides wholesale water and wastewater services. The Company provides its services to wholesale customers, which include industrial customers and local governmental entities that provide water and wastewater services to their end-use customers located in the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area. The Company is engaged in selling water service to customers, using water rights owned or controlled by the Company and developing infrastructure to divert, treat and distribute that water and collect, treat and reuse wastewater. The Company owns a portfolio of water rights located in the Denver, Colorado metropolitan area, Southeastern Colorado in the Arkansas River, and the Western Slope of Colorado in the Colorado River. The Company’s Denver area assets include Rangeview Water, the Lowry Range Property, Sky Ranch and Arapahoe County Fairgrounds.

California Water Service Group Holding Company Profile

California Water Service Group is a holding company. The Company operates through the supply and distribution of water and providing water-related utility services segment. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides non-regulated services and non-regulated services to private companies and municipalities. The bulk of the business consists of the production, purchase, storage, treatment, testing, distribution and sale of water for domestic, industrial, public and irrigation uses, and for fire protection. It also provides non-regulated water-related services. The non-regulated services include water system operation, billing and meter reading services. Non-regulated operations also include the lease of communication antenna sites, lab services and promotion of other non-regulated services. The Company under its non-regulated contract arrangements, operates municipally owned water systems, privately owned water and recycled water distribution systems.