Consolidated Water (CWCO) Lags On Q4 Earnings, Revenues

Consolidated Water Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ:CWCO) reported fourth-quarter 2017 earnings of 12 cents per share, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 18 cents by 33.3%.

Total Revenues

In the quarter under review, Consolidated Water’s total revenues were $14.7 million, lagging the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $16.0 million by 8.1%. However, reported revenues were higher than the year-ago figure of $14.1 million by 4.3%.

Total revenues in 2017 were $62.3 million compared with $57.9 million in 2016. The year-over-year growth was due to increase in Bulk and Manufacturing revenues.

Yearly Segment Details

Retail Water Operations revenues in 2017 were down 0.9% year over year to $23.3 million.

Bulk Water Operations revenues increased 6.4% from the prior-year quarter to $31.6 million.

Manufacturing revenues were nearly $7 million, up 79.8% year over year.

Services Operations revenues of $0.5 million were down from the year-ago figure by 43.8%.

Highlights of the Release

In 2017, total cost of revenues increased 9.8% year over year to $36.9 million, mainly due to higher cost of revenues in Manufacturing and Bulk Water Operations.

Consolidated Water’s gross profit in 2017 was $25.4 million, up 4.5% from 2016 levels.

The company incurred general and administrative expenses of $19.1 million, up 2.7% from the prior-year figure.

As of Dec 31, 2017, Consolidated Water’s cash and cash equivalents were $47.2 million, up from $39.3 million as of Dec 31, 2016.

Zacks Rank

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

Performance of the Peers

Fourth-quarter earnings from its peers in the industry were on the positive side. The water and wastewater service providers like American States Water Company (NYSE:AWR) , Connecticut Water Service Inc. (NASDAQ:CTWS) and American Water Works Company (NYSE:AWK) have surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The long-term earnings growth of these companies is presently pegged at 5%, 6% and 7.47%, respectively.

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