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American Water Works (AWK) Q4 Earnings: What's in the Offing?

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American Water Works Company (AWK - Free Report) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter 2017 results after the market closes on Feb 20. Last quarter, the company’s earnings were in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Let’s see how things are shaping up for the quarter.

Factors to Consider

American Water Works continues to expand its operations through strategic acquisitions. In the fourth quarter, the company completed the acquisition of the wastewater system assets of the Municipal Authority of the City of McKeesport for $159 million that added 22,000 customers to its existing customer base.

During the quarter, the company continued with its capital investment to strengthen the existing infrastructure and replace old pipelines and water mains. At the same time, we expect the rate revisions to also have a positive impact on earnings in the fourth quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter revenues and earnings per share is pegged at $835 million and 65 cents, which reflects year-over-year growth of 4.1% and 14%, respectively.
 

American Water Works Price and EPS Surprise
 

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively show that American Water Works is likely to beat earnings this quarter as it does not possess the two key components — a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. However, that is not the case here as you will see below.

Zacks ESP: The company’s Earnings ESP is +0.66%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter is pegged at 66 cents.

You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: American Water Works has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

We caution against stocks with a Zacks Rank #4 or 5 (Strong Sell) going into the earnings announcement, especially when the company is seeing a negative estimate revisions momentum.

Stocks With Favorable Combination

A few other companies from the Zacks Utilities Sector that have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this quarter:

Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PEG - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.72%. It has a Zacks Rank #2 and is expected to report fourth-quarter 2017 earnings on Feb 23. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (CNP - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +2.65%. It carries a Zacks Rank #2 and is anticipated to report fourth-quarter 2017 earnings on Feb 22.

Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PNW - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +12.20%. The company has a Zacks Rank #3 and is expected to report fourth-quarter 2017 earnings on Feb 23.

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