Blog Coverage Aqua America Announced FY17 Earnings Guidance

Upcoming AWS Coverage on American Water Works

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2017 / Active Wall St. blog coverage looks at the headline from Aqua America, Inc. (NYSE: WTR) as the Company announced on January 17, 2017, its earnings guidance for FY17. Register with us now for your free membership and blog access at:

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One of Aqua America’s competitors within the Water Utilities space, American Water Works (NYSE: AWK), is estimated to report earnings on February 23, 2017. AWS will be initiating a research report on American Water Works following the release of its next earnings results.

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2017 Guidance Highlights

For FY17, Aqua America is expecting earnings per diluted common share of $1.34 to $1.39. The Company expects its customer base to expand by 1.5% to 2% in FY17 compared to FY016. In FY16, Aqua America reported a 1.6% growth in its customer base.

Aqua America is planning to invest more than $450 million in infrastructure improvements in 2017 for communities served by the Company. The Company has planned an investment of more than $1.2 billion planned through 2019 in existing operations to improve and strengthen systems. Aqua America is forecasting same-system operations and maintenance expenses to increase by 1% to 2% during FY17.

The Company’s Aqua Pennsylvania division is expected to file infrastructure investment charge in FY17 and rate case filing likely in 2018, with resolution expected in 2019.

“Our confidence in our ability to deliver long-term value for our stakeholders is reflected in our 2017 guidance,” said President and Chief Executive Officer of Aqua America Christopher Franklin, “Growing our customer base through acquisitions, prudently investing to renew our aging infrastructure, and creating efficiencies across the organization remain among our highest priorities.”

Completes 19 Acquisitions in FY016

On January 13th, 2017, Aqua America announced that during FY16, the Company completed 19 acquisition, which provided it with the opportunity to serve approximately 25,000 more people to its water and wastewater service base, which equates to 6,558 more water and wastewater connections. The Company stated that FY16 acquisitions, plus organic growth, added 1.6% to its customer base. In Q4 2016, the Company completed nine acquisitions out of which two were in Pennsylvania municipal systems.

Aqua America’ Q4 2016 growth activity included the following transactions:

Aqua Pennsylvania purchased the assets of two municipal systems – the Emlenton Area Municipal Authority’s wastewater system, which serves customers in Venango and Clarion counties and the East Cameron Township water system in Northumberland County – as well as the investor-owned Honeycroft Village wastewater system in Londonberry, Chester County.

Aqua New Jersey acquired the water assets of Cliffside Park Associates, Inc., which serves portions of Mansfield Township, Warren County, and Washington Township, Morris County. Aqua New Jersey also purchased the assets of Oakwood Village Sewerage Associates, which provides sewer service to Oakwood Village apartments and the Millbrook Estates at Flanders Housing Development in Mt. Olive Township, Morris County.

Aqua Texas acquired the assets of the Brushy Bend Park water system, which serves a subdivision of the same name in Williamson County, Texas. Aqua Indiana completed the acquisitions of the wastewater assets of Southeastern Utilities, Inc., which serves customers in Marion County and SaniTech, Inc., which serves customers in Morgan County. Aqua Ohio completed the acquisition of the Mentor Ridge Farms in Mentor, Lake County, Ohio.

Christopher Franklin, Aqua America’s president and CEO stated of these acquisitions:

“While we are pleased to meet the overall customer growth expectations we set for 2016, we anticipate acquiring larger systems going forward. Our focus today is on municipal water and wastewater systems with 2,500 to 25,000 customers. We look forward to opportunities where we can apply our operations, technical and service expertise to benefit more customers and communities.”

Stock Performance

At the closing bell, on Thursday, January 19, 2017, Aqua America’s stock slipped 1.23%, ending the trading session at $29.79. A total volume of 831.82 thousand shares were traded at the end of the day, which was higher than the 3-month average volume of 772.51 thousand shares. In the last three months and previous twelve months, shares of the Company have advanced 0.19% and 5.21%, respectively. The Company’s shares are trading at a PE ratio of 24.87 and have a dividend yield of 2.58%.

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