American Water Works key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, American Water Works had return on equity of 10.5%, an operating margin of 36.6%, debt equal to 146.2% of equity and a current ratio of 0.46. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

American Water Works: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Dec 2009	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Operating margin	8.0%	28.5%	30.1%	32.4%	32.9%	33.3%	34.0%	32.9%	37.3%	32.0%	33.6%	33.0%	30.4%	33.6%	35.5%	36.7%	36.6%	37.0%
Net margin	−10.2%	10.5%	11.6%	12.5%	12.8%	14.0%	15.1%	14.2%	12.7%	16.5%	17.2%	18.8%	32.1%	21.6%	22.3%	22.4%	21.6%	21.3%
Free-cash-flow margin	−8.3%	0.4%	−4.4%	0.9%	−2.9%	4.7%	1.1%	−0.7%	0.4%	−5.8%	−7.5%	−10.5%	−8.2%	−31.4%	−16.6%	−17.3%	−20.8%	−21.7%
Return on equity	−5.8%	6.6%	7.4%	8.2%	8.0%	8.8%	9.6%	9.1%	8.0%	10.1%	10.4%	11.3%	18.4%	10.9%	10.8%	10.4%	10.5%	10.0%
Return on assets	−1.7%	1.9%	2.1%	2.4%	2.5%	2.7%	2.9%	2.6%	2.2%	2.8%	2.8%	3.0%	5.0%	3.0%	3.3%	3.3%	3.3%	3.1%
Asset turnover	0.17	0.19	0.18	0.19	0.19	0.19	0.19	0.18	0.18	0.17	0.16	0.16	0.15	0.14	0.15	0.15	0.15	0.15
Current ratio	0.82	1.32	0.94	0.50	0.46	0.46	0.43	0.33	0.31	0.37	0.63	0.66	0.73	0.44	0.65	0.39	0.46	0.39
Debt to equity	136.4%	137.1%	139.4%	125.9%	124.3%	120.8%	129.6%	137.4%	143.3%	146.7%	154.4%	169.5%	150.5%	161.0%	126.3%	135.8%	146.2%	136.9%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	0.6x	2.3x	2.6x	3.0x	3.1x	3.4x	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.9x	3.3x	3.3x	3.1x	3.0x
Effective tax rate	—	40.6%	39.5%	40.7%	39.0%	39.4%	39.1%	39.2%	53.3%	28.2%	25.5%	23.3%	23.0%	18.7%	21.1%	22.7%	21.9%	21.4%
Capital spending as % of revenue	34.3%	30.0%	34.7%	32.5%	34.0%	31.7%	36.7%	39.7%	42.7%	46.1%	45.8%	48.2%	44.9%	60.6%	60.8%	61.0%	60.8%	64.7%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	—	3.5%	−37.6%	7.5%	−22.8%	33.3%	7.4%	−4.7%	3.5%	−35.3%	−43.6%	−55.9%	−25.6%	−145.0%	−74.3%	−77.2%	−96.0%	−101.8%
Dividends ÷ net income	—	56.1%	51.0%	59.6%	40.4%	51.1%	50.2%	55.8%	67.8%	56.3%	56.8%	54.9%	33.9%	57.0%	56.4%	55.7%	57.0%	59.4%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	—	>999%	—	789.9%	—	153.2%	>999%	—	>999%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

American Water Works: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026	2026 Q3Sept 2026
Operating margin	33.3%	32.5%	38.3%	42.3%	31.9%	32.4%	40.0%	42.5%
Net margin	19.9%	18.0%	22.6%	26.1%	18.7%	16.2%	23.2%	25.6%
Free-cash-flow margin	−21.2%	−19.0%	−33.9%	−2.3%	−30.3%	−29.3%	−19.0%	−10.6%
Current ratio	0.39	0.49	0.35	0.42	0.46	0.37	0.52	0.39
Debt to equity	129.7%	135.9%	129.8%	128.6%	132.6%	128.0%	133.2%	129.4%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

1 of 6 checks passed · September 30, 2026

What it owns · $37.2bn

Short-term assets $1.5bnLonger-term assets $35.7bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $15.7bn

Short-term liabilities $3.8bnShareholders' equity $11.9bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.5bn of assets due within a year against $3.8bn of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
More cash than debt $121m of cash against $15.4bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 129% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 139% to 129% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $2.3bn of operating cash flow against $15.4bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $2.0bn against $659m of interest.

From American Water Works's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

47 /100

Moderate moat

How hard American Water Works's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 2 / 20

Net income has been a median 3.0% of total assets over 10 years.
Durability 20 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 34.5%; its worst year was 31.8%.
Cash conversion 1 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 1 of 10 years, at a median -14.8% of revenue.
Discipline 14 / 20

The diluted share count rose 7.5% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.4% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from American Water Works's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 29, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to American Water Works.