This module uses fundamental data of American Water to approximate the value of its Beneish M Score. American Water M Score tells investors if the company management is likely to be manipulating earnings. The score is calculated using eight financial indicators that are adjusted by a specific multiplier. Please note, the M Score is a probabilistic model and cannot detect companies that manipulate their earnings with 100% accuracy. Check out American Water Piotroski F Score and American Water Altman Z Score analysis.
At this time, it appears that American Water Works is an unlikely manipulator. The earnings manipulation may begin if American Water's top management creates an artificial sense of financial success, forcing the stock price to be traded at a high price-earnings multiple than it should be. In general, excessive earnings management by American Water executives may lead to removing some of the operating profits from subsequent periods to inflate earnings in the following periods. This way, the manipulation of American Water's earnings can lead to misrepresentations of actual financial condition, taking the otherwise loyal stakeholders on to the path of questionable ethical practices and plain fraud.
The cure to earnings manipulation is the transparency of financial reporting. It will typically remove the temptation of the top executives to inflate earnings (i.e., to promote the idea of 'winning at any cost'). Because a healthy internal audit department can enhance transparency, the board should promote the auditors' access to all the record-keeping systems across the enterprise. For example, if American Water's auditors report directly to the board (not management), the managers will be reluctant to manipulate simply due to the fear of punishment. On the other hand, the auditors will be free to investigate the ledgers properly because they know that the board has their back.
American Water Works Beneish M-Score Driver Matrix
One of the toughest challenges investors face today is learning how to quickly synthesize historical financial statements and information provided by the company, SEC reporting, and various external parties in order to detect the potential manipulation of earnings. Understanding the correlation between American Water's different financial indicators related to revenue, expenses, operating profit, and net earnings helps investors identify and prioritize their investing strategies towards American Water in a much-optimized way. Analyzing correlations between earnings drivers directly associated with dollar figures is the most effective way to find American Water's degree of accounting gimmicks and manipulations.
M-Score is one of many grading techniques for value stocks. It was developed by Professor M. Daniel Beneish of the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and published in 1999 under the paper titled The Detection of Earnings Manipulation. The Beneish score is a multi-factor model that utilizes financial identifiers to compile eight variables used to classify whether a company has manipulated its reported earnings. The variables are built from the officially filed financial statements to create a final score call 'M Score.' The score helps to identify companies that are likely to manipulate their profits if they show deteriorating gross margins, operating expenses, and leverage against growing revenue.
Other Operating Expenses
1.67 Billion
At this time, American Water's Other Operating Expenses is quite stable compared to the past year.
American Water Earnings Manipulation Drivers
Although earnings manipulation is typically not the result of intentional misconduct by the c-level executives, it is still a widespread practice by the senior management of public companies such as American Water. It is usually done by a series of misrepresentations of various accounting rules and operating activities across multiple financial cycles. The best way to spot the manipulation is to examine the historical financial statement to find inconsistencies in earning reports to find trends in assets or liabilities that are not sustainable in the future.
Some studies have found that companies with high sustainability scores are getting higher valuations than competitors with lower social-engagement activities. While most ESG disclosures are voluntary and do not directly affect the long term financial condition, American Water's sustainability indicators can be used to identify proper investment strategies using environmental, social, and governance scores that are crucial to American Water's managers, analysts, and investors.
Environmental
Governance
Social
About American Water Fundamental Analysis
The Macroaxis Fundamental Analysis modules help investors analyze American Water Works's financials across various querterly and yearly statements, indicators and fundamental ratios. We help investors to determine the real value of American Water using virtually all public information available. We use both quantitative as well as qualitative analysis to arrive at the intrinsic value of American Water Works based on its fundamental data. In general, a quantitative approach, as applied to this company, focuses on analyzing financial statements comparatively, whereas a qaualitative method uses data that is important to a company's growth but cannot be measured and presented in a numerical way.
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When determining whether American Water Works is a good investment, qualitative aspects like company management, corporate governance, and ethical practices play a significant role. A comparison with peer companies also provides context and helps to understand if American Stock is undervalued or overvalued. This multi-faceted approach, blending both quantitative and qualitative analysis, forms a solid foundation for making an informed investment decision about American Water Works Stock. Highlighted below are key reports to facilitate an investment decision about American Water Works Stock:
You can also try the Economic Indicators module to top statistical indicators that provide insights into how an economy is performing.
Is Water Utilities space expected to grow? Or is there an opportunity to expand the business' product line in the future? Factors like these will boost the valuation of American Water. If investors know American will grow in the future, the company's valuation will be higher. The financial industry is built on trying to define current growth potential and future valuation accurately. All the valuation information about American Water listed above have to be considered, but the key to understanding future value is determining which factors weigh more heavily than others.
Quarterly Earnings Growth
0.084
Dividend Share
2.945
Earnings Share
5.04
Revenue Per Share
23.124
Quarterly Revenue Growth
0.134
The market value of American Water Works is measured differently than its book value, which is the value of American that is recorded on the company's balance sheet. Investors also form their own opinion of American Water's value that differs from its market value or its book value, called intrinsic value, which is American Water's true underlying value. Investors use various methods to calculate intrinsic value and buy a stock when its market value falls below its intrinsic value. Because American Water's market value can be influenced by many factors that don't directly affect American Water's underlying business (such as a pandemic or basic market pessimism), market value can vary widely from intrinsic value.
Please note, there is a significant difference between American Water's value and its price as these two are different measures arrived at by different means. Investors typically determine if American Water is a good investment by looking at such factors as earnings, sales, fundamental and technical indicators, competition as well as analyst projections. However, American Water's price is the amount at which it trades on the open market and represents the number that a seller and buyer find agreeable to each party.