CWT · Utilities(water supply) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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California Water Service Group reported revenue of $963.7 million in fiscal 2025, after growing 5.6% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 14.0% in 2016 to 17.7%. Of the $2.1 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 23.5% went to dividends; the share count rose 24.3%. On the accounting screens, it passes 4 of 8 Piotroski tests and its Altman Z'' of 0.99 is in the distress zone; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 2025963.7M+5.6% a year over 9 years
Operating margin17.7%gross margin —
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow—
Net debt ÷ EBITDA4.5×net debt 1.4B
Piotroski F-score4/8tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
00.25B0.50B0.75B1.00B
2016Revenue 589.5MOperating income 82.6M
2017Revenue 622.5MOperating income 107.1M
2018Revenue 674.7MOperating income 110.5M
2019Revenue 664.4MOperating income 99.4M
2020Revenue 697.6MOperating income 136.7M
2021Revenue 765.7MOperating income 126.8M
2022Revenue 772.6MOperating income 127.7M
2023Revenue 790.3MOperating income 77.1M
2024Revenue 905.6MOperating income 225.1M
2025Revenue 963.7MOperating income 170.4M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+7.6%
+6.7%
+5.6%
Operating income
+10.1%
+4.5%
+8.4%
Net income
+10.1%
+5.8%
—
Earnings per share
+6.8%
+1.8%
—
Dividend per share
+7.5%
+7.9%
+6.7%
Shares
+3.1%
+3.9%
+2.5%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
GrossOperatingNetFree cash flow
0%10%20%30%
2016Operating 14.0%
2017Operating 17.2%Net 11.7%
2018Operating 16.4%Net 9.7%
2019Operating 15.0%Net 9.5%
2020Operating 19.6%Net 13.9%
2021Operating 16.6%Net 13.2%
2022Operating 16.5%Net 12.4%
2023Operating 9.8%Net 6.6%
2024Operating 24.9%Net 21.1%
2025Operating 17.7%Net 13.3%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Return on invested capital
Economic profit
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
7.6%
Return on assets
2.3%
Asset turnover
0.17×
Overheads (SG&A)
14.7% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
050M100M150M200M
2016
2017Net income 72.9M
2018Net income 65.6M
2019Net income 63.1M
2020Net income 96.8M
2021Net income 101.1M
2022Net income 96.0M
2023Net income 51.9M
2024Net income 190.8M
2025Net income 128.2M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
2.1B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 0%0
Acquisitions 2%48.7M
Dividends 23%483.4M
Share buybacks 1%16.6M
Kept, or used to pay down debt 73%1.5B
Over the same years it paid 44.1M in stock. The share count rose 24.3%. The buybacks did not even cover what was handed out in stock.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0$1$2$3$4
2016Dividend per share $0.69
2017Earnings per share $1.52Dividend per share $0.72
2018Earnings per share $1.36Dividend per share $0.75
2019Earnings per share $1.31Dividend per share $0.79
2020Earnings per share $1.97Dividend per share $0.85
2021Earnings per share $1.96Dividend per share $0.92
2022Earnings per share $1.77Dividend per share $1.00
2023Earnings per share $0.91Dividend per share $1.04
2024Earnings per share $3.25Dividend per share $1.12
2025Earnings per share $2.15Dividend per share $1.24
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
45M50M55M60M
2016Diluted shares 48.0M
2017Diluted shares 48.0M
2018Diluted shares 48.1M
2019Diluted shares 48.2M
2020Diluted shares 49.3M
2021Diluted shares 51.6M
2022Diluted shares 54.4M
2023Diluted shares 57.0M
2024Diluted shares 58.6M
2025Diluted shares 59.6M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Debt and liquidity
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
00.5B1.0B1.5B
2016Net debt 532.5M
2017Net debt 436.9M
2018Net debt 767.8M
2019Net debt 766.0M
2020Net debt 741.7M
2021Net debt 982.6M
2022Net debt 993.7M
2023Net debt 1.0B
2024Net debt 1.1B
2025Net debt 1.4B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
4.5×
Interest coverage
2× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.85 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 21d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
4of 8 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✕Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforefailed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
–Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
0.99distress zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets -0.01 × 6.56-0.07
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.13 × 3.26+0.42
Operating income ÷ assets 0.03 × 6.72+0.20
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.43 × 1.05+0.45
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
The accounts lack too many of the lines it needs.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
Net debt is 4.5 times EBITDA.
Benign
A stable sector with predictable cash flows and comfortable maturities.
Worrying
Little room if earnings fall; the maturity schedule is what to check.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
The SEC accounts lack the lines needed for revenue, free cash flow or the share count, so there is no DCF for this company.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 6 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market—none in the period
Under pre-arranged plans—of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Companies like this one
Same SEC industry (water supply) first, then the rest of utilities.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.
