H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) and Suez (OTCMKTS:SZEVF) Financial Survey

H2O America (NASDAQ:HTO) and Suez (OTCMKTS:SZEVF) are both utilities companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Profitability

This table compares H2O America and Suez’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
H2O America	13.03%	7.67%	2.27%
Suez	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider & Institutional Ownership

84.3% of H2O America shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of H2O America shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for H2O America and Suez, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
H2O America	0	1	1	0	2.50
Suez	0	0	0	0	0.00

H2O America currently has a consensus price target of $56.50, indicating a potential upside of 14.16%. Given H2O America’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe H2O America is more favorable than Suez.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares H2O America and Suez”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
H2O America	$748.44 million	2.33	$93.97 million	$3.05	16.23
Suez	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

H2O America has higher revenue and earnings than Suez.

Summary

H2O America beats Suez on 9 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About H2O America

SJW Group, through its subsidiaries, provides water utility and other related services in the United States. It operates in Water Utility Services and Real Estate Services segments. The company engages in the production, purchase, storage, purification, distribution, wholesale, and retail sale of water and wastewater services; and supplies groundwater from wells, surface water from watershed run-off and diversion, reclaimed water, and imported water purchased from the Santa Clara Valley Water District. It also offers non-tariffed services, including water system operations, maintenance agreements, and antenna site leases; contracted services, sewer operations, and other water related services to water utilities; and a Linebacker protection plan for public drinking water customers in Connecticut and Maine. In addition, the company provides water service to approximately 232,400 connections that serve approximately one million people residing in portions of the cities of San Jose and Cupertino and in the cities of Campbell, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, and the Town of Los Gatos; adjacent unincorporated territories in the County of Santa Clara in the State of California; water service to approximately 141,000 service connections, which serve approximately 461,000 people in 81 municipalities with a service area of approximately 272 square miles in Connecticut and Maine and approximately 3,000 wastewater connections in Southbury, Connecticut; approximately 28,000 service connections that serve approximately 83,000 people in a service area comprising approximately 271 square miles in the region between San Antonio and Austin, Texas; and approximately 950 wastewater connections. Further, it owns undeveloped land in California and Tennessee; commercial and warehouse properties in Tennessee; and commercial properties and parcels of land in Connecticut. The company was formerly known as SJW Corp. and changed its name to SJW Group in November 2016. SJW Group was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

About Suez

SUEZ SA engages in the provision of water and waste management services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Water, Recycling and Recovery, Environmental Technology and Solutions (ETS), and Other. The Water segment offers water distribution and treatment services, particularly under concession contracts. The Recycling and Recovery segment includes waste and waste treatment services for local authorities and industrial clients. The ETS segment consists of water services for the industrial customer segment, hazardous waste services as well as customized services, technologies and solutions for industrial or municipal customers, as well as consulting services. The Other segment refers to the holdings. The company was founded in 1822 and is headquartered in Paris, France.