Aqua America (WTR) Hits New Lifetime High Today

Trade-Ideas LLC identified Aqua America (WTR) as a new lifetime high candidate
By TheStreet Wire ,

Trade-Ideas LLC identified

Aqua America

(

WTR

) as a new lifetime high candidate. In addition to specific proprietary factors, Trade-Ideas identified Aqua America as such a stock due to the following factors:

  • WTR has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $24.6 million.
  • WTR has traded 12,151 shares today.
  • WTR is trading at a new lifetime high.

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More details on WTR:

Aqua America, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates regulated utilities that provide water or wastewater services in the United States. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 2.5%. WTR has a PE ratio of 23. Currently there are 6 analysts that rate Aqua America a buy, no analysts rate it a sell, and 3 rate it a hold.

The average volume for Aqua America has been 796,600 shares per day over the past 30 days. Aqua America has a market cap of $5.0 billion and is part of the utilities sector and utilities industry. The stock has a beta of 0.80 and a short float of 3% with 6.31 days to cover. Shares are up 7.4% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Tuesday.

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TheStreetRatings.com

Analysis:

TheStreet Quant Ratings

rates Aqua America as a

buy

. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, expanding profit margins, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and solid stock price performance. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company is trading at a premium valuation based on our review of its current price compared to such things as earnings and book value.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

  • WTR's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 1.6%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 5.0%. This growth in revenue does not appear to have trickled down to the company's bottom line, displaying stagnant earnings per share.
  • AQUA AMERICA INC reported flat earnings per share in the most recent quarter. This company has reported somewhat volatile earnings recently. But, we feel it is poised for EPS growth in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, AQUA AMERICA INC increased its bottom line by earning $1.21 versus $1.16 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($1.27 versus $1.21).
  • The gross profit margin for AQUA AMERICA INC is rather high; currently it is at 57.48%. Regardless of WTR's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, WTR's net profit margin of 30.50% significantly outperformed against the industry.
  • WTR's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97 is somewhat low overall, but it is high when compared to the industry average, implying that the management of the debt levels should be evaluated further.
  • Compared to where it was a year ago today, the stock is now trading at a higher level, regardless of the company's weak earnings results. The stock's price rise over the last year has driven it to a level which is somewhat expensive compared to the rest of its industry. We feel, however, that other strengths this company displays justify these higher price levels.

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