American States Water's (AWR) Q1 Earnings Miss, Improve Y/Y

American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR) reported first-quarter 2019 operating earnings of 35 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 36 cents by 2.78%. However, the bottom line improved 20.7% from 29 cents registered in the year-ago quarter.

Total Revenues

Operating revenues amounted to $102 million, which outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $99 million by 2.76%. The top line also improved 7.4% from $94.7 million in the prior-year quarter. The upside can be primarily attributed to higher revenues in the Contracted services segment, which was up by nearly 28.8%.

Operational Update

In the quarter under review, American States Water’s total operating expenses were $81.5 million, up 7.2% year over year.

Interest expenses were $6.3 million, up 6.6% year over year. Also, interest income totaled $1 million, up 75.7% year over year.

Segment Details

At the Water segment, earnings were 21 cents, up from 20 cents in the prior-year quarter.

Earnings in the Electric segment came in at 3 cents, down from 4 cents in the year-ago quarter.

At the Contracted Services segment, earnings totaled 11 cents, which rallied 120% from the year-ago quarter’s tally.

Financial Update

As of Mar 31, 2019, American States Water’s cash and cash equivalents were $1.8 million compared with $7.1 million as of Dec 31, 2018.

As of Mar 31, 2019, the company’s long-term debts were down at $281 million in line with the debt as of Dec 31, 2018.

Recent Utility Releases

Aqua America Inc. (NYSE:WTR) reported first-quarter 2019 earnings of 28 cents per share, which fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.7%.

American Water Works Company (NYSE:AWK) posted first-quarter 2019 earnings of 61 cents per share, which lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.2%.

Middlesex Water (NASDAQ:MSEX) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.39 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.31 per share by 25.8%.

Zacks Rank

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

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