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Essential Utilities (Essential Utilities) Altman Z-Score

: 0.91 (As of Today)
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The Altman Z-Score is a model designed to predict the likelihood of a company going bankrupt within the next two years. Created by American finance professor Edward Altman in 1968, the model is specifically designed for publicly traded manufacturing companies with assets greater than $1 million.

Warning Sign:

Altman Z-score of 0.91 is in distress zone. This implies bankruptcy possibility in the next two years.

Essential Utilities has a Altman Z-Score of 0.91, indicating it is in Distress Zones. This implies bankrupcy possibility in the next two years.

The zones of discrimination were as such:

When Altman Z-Score <= 1.8, it is in Distress Zones.
When Altman Z-Score >= 3, it is in Safe Zones.
When Altman Z-Score is between 1.8 and 3, it is in Grey Zones.

The historical rank and industry rank for Essential Utilities's Altman Z-Score or its related term are showing as below:

WTRG' s Altman Z-Score Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: 0.91   Med: 1.26   Max: 1.75
Current: 0.91

During the past 13 years, Essential Utilities's highest Altman Z-Score was 1.75. The lowest was 0.91. And the median was 1.26.


Essential Utilities Altman Z-Score Historical Data

The historical data trend for Essential Utilities's Altman Z-Score can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

Essential Utilities Annual Data
Trend Dec14 Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23
Altman Z-Score
Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 1.75 1.10 1.25 1.13 0.94

Essential Utilities Quarterly Data
Mar19 Jun19 Sep19 Dec19 Mar20 Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23
Altman Z-Score Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 1.13 1.09 1.02 0.93 0.94

Competitive Comparison

For the Utilities - Regulated Water subindustry, Essential Utilities's Altman Z-Score, along with its competitors' market caps and Altman Z-Score data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Essential Utilities Altman Z-Score Distribution

For the Utilities - Regulated industry and Utilities sector, Essential Utilities's Altman Z-Score distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Essential Utilities's Altman Z-Score falls into.



Essential Utilities Altman Z-Score Calculation

Altman Z-Score model is an accurate forecaster of failure up to two years prior to distress. It can be considered the assessment of the distress of industrial corporations.

Essential Utilities's Altman Z-Score for today is calculated with this formula:

Z=1.2*X1+1.4*X2+3.3*X3+0.6*X4+1.0*X5
=1.2*-0.0182+1.4*0.1013+3.3*0.0425+0.6*0.8856+1.0*0.122
=0.91

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency. GuruFocus does not calculate Altman Z-Score when X4 or X5 value is 0.

Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) ended in Dec. 2023:
Total Assets was $16,841 Mil.
Total Current Assets was $492 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was $798 Mil.
Retained Earnings was $1,707 Mil.
Pre-Tax Income was 104.614 + 76.365 + 91.005 + 159.797 = $432 Mil.
Interest Expense was -72.922 + -68.59 + -69.182 + -72.668 = $-283 Mil.
Revenue was 479.419 + 411.255 + 436.7 + 726.45 = $2,054 Mil.
Market Cap (Today) was $9,693 Mil.
Total Liabilities was $10,945 Mil.

* Note that for stock reported semi-annually or annually, GuruFocus uses latest annual data as the TTM data.

X1=Working Capital/Total Assets
=(Total Current Assets - Total Current Liabilities)/Total Assets
=(491.979 - 797.927)/16841.459
=-0.0182

X2=Retained Earnings/Total Assets
=1706.675/16841.459
=0.1013

X3=Earnings Before Interest and Taxes/Total Assets
=(Pre-Tax Income - Interest Expense)/Total Assets
=(431.781 - -283.362)/16841.459
=0.0425

X4=Market Value Equity/Book Value of Total Liabilities
=Market Cap/Total Liabilities
=9693.400/10945.276
=0.8856

X5=Revenue/Total Assets
=2053.824/16841.459
=0.122

The zones of discrimination were as such:

Distress Zones - 1.81 < Grey Zones < 2.99 - Safe Zones

Essential Utilities has a Altman Z-Score of 0.91 indicating it is in Distress Zones.

Study by Altman found that companies that are in Distress Zone have more than 80% of chances of bankruptcy in two years.


Essential Utilities  (NYSE:WTRG) Altman Z-Score Explanation

X1: The Working Capital/Total Assets (WC/TA) ratio is a measure of the net liquid assets of the firm relative to the total capitalization. Working capital is defined as the difference between current assets and current liabilities. Ordinarily, a firm experiencing consistent operating losses will have shrinking current assets in relation to total assets. Altman found this one proved to be the most valuable liquidity ratio comparing with the current ratio and the quick ratio. This is however the least significant of the five factors.

X2: Retained Earnings/Total Assets: the RE/TA ratio measures the leverage of a firm. Retained earnings is the account which reports the total amount of reinvested earnings and/or losses of a firm over its entire life. Those firms with high RE, relative to TA, have financed their assets through retention of profits and have not utilized as much debt.

X3, Earnings Before Interest and Taxes/Total Assets (EBIT/TA): This ratio is a measure of the true productivity of the firm's assets, independent of any tax or leverage factors. Since a firm's ultimate existence is based on the earning power of its assets, this ratio appears to be particularly appropriate for studies dealing with corporate failure. This ratio continually outperforms other profitability measures, including cash flow.

X4, Market Value of Equity/Book Value of Total Liabilities (MVE/TL): The measure shows how much the firm's assets can decline in value (measured by market value of equity plus debt) before the liabilities exceed the assets and the firm becomes insolvent.

X5, Revenue/Total Assets (S/TA): The capital-turnover ratio is a standard financial ratio illustrating the sales generating ability of the firm's assets.

Read more about Altman Z-Score and the original research.


Be Aware

Altman Z-Score does not apply to financial companies.


Essential Utilities Altman Z-Score Related Terms

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Essential Utilities (Essential Utilities) Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
Address
762 West Lancaster Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, USA, 19010-3489
Essential Utilities is a Pennsylvania-based holding company for U.S. water, wastewater, and natural gas distribution utilities. The company's water business serves 3 million people in eight states. Nearly three fourths of its water earnings come from Pennsylvania, primarily suburban Philadelphia. Its Peoples subsidiary serves more than 700,000 gas distribution customers in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Essential exited its noncore competitive water and energy services businesses.
Executives
Roderick K West director 1600 PERDIDO STREET, BLDG 505, NEW ORLEANS LA 70112
Arnold Colleen officer: President 762 W. LANCASTER AVENUE, BRYN MAWR PA 19010
Chris Franklin officer: Aqua America Southern Oper 762 W.LANCASTER AVE, BRYN MAWR PA 19010
Michael Huwar officer: President 762 W. LANCASTER AVENUE, BRYN MAWR PA 19010
Ellen T Ruff director 762, W LANCASTER AVE, BRYN MAWR PA 19010
Wilbert Bryan Lewis director 762 W. LANCASTER AVENUE, BRYN MAWR PA 19010
Robert A Rubin officer: Chief Accounting Officer 762 W LANCASTER AVE, BRYN MAWR PA 19010
Daniel Schuller officer: Executive Vice President 40 SACHEM ROAD, GREENWICH CT 06830
David Alan Ciesinski director H. J. HEINZ COMPANY, P.O. BOX 57, PITTSBURGH PA 15230
Edwina Kelly director 510 MADISON AVENUE, 15FL, NEW YORK NY 10022
Richard Scott Fox officer: Chief Operating Officer 14812 BALLANTYNE COUNTRY CLUB DRIVE, CHARLOTTE NC 28277
Matthew Rhodes officer: EVP, Strategy & Corp Dev 762 LANCASTER AVE, BRYN MAWR PA 19010
Wendy Franks director ONE QUEEN STREET EAST, SUITE 2500, TORONTO A6 M5C 2W5
Hilferty Daniel J Iii director C/O FS INVESTMENT CORPORATION III, CIRA CENTRE, 2929 ARCH STREET, SUITE 675, PHILADELPHIA PA 19104
Christopher Paul Luning officer: Sr. VP, General Counsel & Sec 762 W. LANCASTER AVE, BRYN MAWR PA 19010