American States Water Co key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, American States Water Co had return on equity of 13.3%, an operating margin of 30.9%, debt equal to 76.0% of equity and a current ratio of 1.32. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| 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 | LTMJun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 88.7% | 87.7% | 88.3% | 87.2% | 88.6% | 89.2% | 90.3% | 90.8% | 90.8% | 90.1% |
| Operating margin | 19.5% | 18.5% | 22.6% | 23.8% | 25.2% | 25.6% | 25.8% | 26.2% | 28.8% | 23.1% | 26.8% | 26.7% | 28.3% | 25.8% | 33.0% | 31.0% | 30.9% | 31.8% |
| Net margin | 8.4% | 8.3% | 10.9% | 11.6% | 13.3% | 13.1% | 13.2% | 13.7% | 15.7% | 14.6% | 17.8% | 17.7% | 18.9% | 15.9% | 21.0% | 20.0% | 19.8% | 20.5% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | −1.4% | −6.3% | −0.0% | 7.2% | 8.1% | 19.5% | 1.7% | −7.5% | 7.1% | 2.3% | −7.4% | −1.7% | −5.8% | −9.9% | −20.3% | −5.6% | −1.1% | 3.0% |
| Return on equity | 8.2% | 9.0% | 11.7% | 12.5% | 13.2% | 12.2% | 12.4% | 12.4% | 13.5% | 11.7% | 14.5% | 13.9% | 14.2% | 11.2% | 16.8% | 14.1% | 13.3% | 13.2% |
| Return on assets | — | 2.8% | 3.8% | 4.3% | 4.8% | 4.5% | 4.4% | 4.2% | 4.8% | 4.4% | 5.4% | 5.0% | 5.1% | 4.0% | 5.8% | 5.0% | 5.0% | 5.2% |
| Asset turnover | — | 0.34 | 0.35 | 0.37 | 0.36 | 0.35 | 0.34 | 0.31 | 0.31 | 0.30 | 0.30 | 0.28 | 0.27 | 0.25 | 0.28 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 |
| Current ratio | — | 1.14 | 1.54 | 1.96 | 1.90 | 2.11 | 1.07 | 0.94 | 0.99 | 0.90 | 1.06 | 1.33 | 0.89 | 0.38 | 1.24 | 0.82 | 1.32 | 0.98 |
| Debt to equity | 0.0% | 79.5% | 83.4% | 73.9% | 67.5% | 64.3% | 69.9% | 65.9% | 61.4% | 58.2% | 47.3% | 69.2% | 60.6% | 63.5% | 74.6% | 70.0% | 76.0% | 64.0% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 3.1x | 3.4x | 4.0x | 4.9x | 5.3x | 5.5x | 5.6x | 5.2x | 5.6x | 4.3x | 5.2x | 5.8x | 6.2x | 4.7x | 4.6x | 3.7x | 4.3x | 4.7x |
| Effective tax rate | 38.9% | 42.6% | 41.7% | 39.9% | 36.3% | 38.4% | 38.4% | 36.8% | 36.0% | 22.0% | — | — | 24.4% | 23.2% | 25.0% | 20.2% | 23.2% | 23.9% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 21.9% | 19.8% | 19.1% | 14.6% | 20.6% | 15.6% | 19.0% | 29.8% | 25.7% | 29.0% | 32.1% | 26.7% | 29.0% | 33.8% | 31.7% | 39.0% | 36.0% | 31.0% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | −16.5% | −76.2% | −0.2% | 61.7% | 61.1% | 148.6% | 12.9% | −55.1% | 45.3% | 16.0% | −41.6% | −9.5% | −30.7% | −61.8% | −96.7% | −27.9% | −5.4% | 14.5% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | 61.3% | 58.2% | 44.8% | 44.6% | 46.8% | 52.6% | 54.0% | 55.9% | 52.5% | 61.0% | 50.6% | 54.6% | 54.8% | 71.9% | 49.0% | 56.2% | 57.2% | 54.8% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | — | — | — | 72.3% | 76.6% | 54.3% | >999% | — | 115.9% | 381.2% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 378.2% |
| Quarter | 2024 Q3Sept 2024 | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 92.7% | 92.4% | 91.3% | 92.1% | 91.0% | 88.9% | 89.8% | 90.8% |
| Operating margin | 34.0% | 27.0% | 30.8% | 31.3% | 33.8% | 27.4% | 30.4% | 35.3% |
| Net margin | 22.1% | 19.9% | 18.1% | 20.7% | 22.5% | 17.5% | 17.7% | 23.9% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | −0.3% | 4.2% | −15.2% | 8.4% | 20.7% | −21.9% | 13.3% | −2.0% |
| Current ratio | 0.69 | 0.82 | 0.81 | 1.56 | 1.27 | 1.32 | 1.22 | 0.98 |
| Debt to equity | 72.8% | 69.6% | 72.2% | 81.2% | 78.3% | 74.9% | 73.6% | 64.0% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $226m of assets due within a year against $231m 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 $22m of cash against $718m of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 64% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 60% to 64% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $237m of operating cash flow against $718m of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $222m against $47m of interest.
Moat
Moderate moat
How hard American States Water'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 6 / 20
Net income has been a median 4.8% of total assets over 10 years.
- Durability 19 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 28.1%; its worst year was 24.3%.
- Cash conversion 3 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 3 of 10 years, at a median -3.0% of revenue.
- Discipline 15 / 20
The diluted share count rose 5.7% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.6% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.
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