The York Water Company (YORW) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $431.58M
• Dividend Yield: 2.68%
• Average Volume (3M): 138.77K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 22.2
• Beta (1Y): 0.14
• Revenue Growth: 3.63%
• EPS Growth: -5.82%
• Country: US
• Employees: 127
• Sector: Utilities
• Sector Strength: 65
• Industry: Regulated Water
• EPS (TTM): 0.36
• Shares Outstanding: 14,448,548
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 263,799
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 138,774
• PEG Ratio: -10.83
• Price to Book (P/B): 1.91
• Price to Sales (P/S): 5.92
• P/FCF Ratio: -24.32
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.54
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: N/A
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: -31.90
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 19.83
• 1Y Price Target: N/A
• Price Target Upside: N/A
• Rating Consensus: N/A
• Number of Analyst Covering: 0
• EPS Forecast (FY): 1.57
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $87.01M

• Rating: 58 Neutral
• Price Target: $31.00 ▼(-5.02% Downside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 03/04/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 03/04/26

The score is primarily constrained by financial performance—especially persistently negative free cash flow through 2024, rising leverage, and inconsistency in the latest (2025) income statement data—despite otherwise steady profitability and operating cash generation. Technicals are mildly supportive with price above key moving averages and neutral momentum, while valuation is mid-range with a ~23.6 P/E balanced by a ~2.7% dividend yield.

Positive Factors

Regulated business model

As a state-regulated water utility, the company recovers prudently incurred costs and earns an allowed return on invested capital. This regulatory framework supports stable, predictable revenue and earnings over multi-month horizons and limits direct price competition, underpinning durable cash flows.

Steady revenue growth and margins

Consistent top-line expansion from 2020–2024 alongside mid-to-high single-digit returns and strong net margins indicates persistent underlying demand and the ability to adjust rates or recover costs. These trends support ongoing earnings quality and resilience to cyclical swings.

Consistent operating cash generation

Stable, positive operating cash flow—coverage above 1x historically—shows core business converts earnings into cash reliably. That cash generation underwrites maintenance and authorized investments and supports dividend capacity, enhancing financial durability despite capital needs.

Negative Factors

Persistently negative free cash flow (2020–2024)

Sustained negative free cash flow across multiple years signals heavy capital spending to maintain and expand water infrastructure. This structural capex pressure can strain liquidity, constrain discretionary spending, and increase reliance on external financing or higher rates to fund growth.

Rising leverage and higher debt load

Material debt growth and a near-1.0 debt-to-equity ratio reduce balance-sheet flexibility and raise interest-service risk. For a capital-intensive utility, higher leverage limits ability to absorb shocks, increases refinancing needs, and could pressure credit access or regulatory scrutiny over rate requests.

Inconsistent 2025 income statement reporting

An internally inconsistent latest-year income record undermines trend visibility and confidence in reported performance. Accounting or reporting anomalies complicate assessment of recent earnings durability and make forecasting regulatory filings and cash needs more uncertain over the coming months.

The York Water Company Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

The York Water Company impounds, purifies, and distributes drinking water. It owns and operates three wastewater collection systems; five wastewater collection and treatment systems; and two reservoirs, including Lake Williams and Lake Redman, which hold approximately 2.2 billion gallons of water. The company also operates a 15-mile pipeline from the Susquehanna River to Lake Redman; and owns nine groundwater wells that supply water to customers in the Adams County. It serves customers in the fixtures and furniture, electrical machinery, food products, paper, ordnance units, textile products, air conditioning systems, laundry detergents, barbells, and motorcycle industries in 51 municipalities within three counties in south-central Pennsylvania. The York Water Company was incorporated in 1816 and is based in York, Pennsylvania.

How the Company Makes Money

The York Water Company makes money primarily by selling regulated water service to customers within its franchised service area. Its core revenue stream is customer billing based on approved tariff rates that are set through the state utility regulatory process; revenue is driven by the number of customer connections, authorized rate structures, and customer water consumption (with demand and weather affecting volumes). Because it is a regulated utility, a significant portion of earnings is tied to the ability to recover prudently incurred operating costs and to earn an allowed return on invested capital in utility plant, subject to regulatory decisions. In addition to retail water service revenues, the company also generates revenue from providing operations and maintenance services to third-party water and wastewater systems through its non-utility services activities; if any other specific revenue categories (e.g., wastewater utility ownership, specific large customer contracts, or named partnerships) are not publicly available in the information provided here, they are null.

The York Water Company Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Profitable regulated-utility profile with steady revenue growth through 2024 and strong net margins, plus consistently positive operating cash flow. The score is held back by structurally negative free cash flow in 2020–2024 (capital spending needs), rising leverage over time, and an internally inconsistent 2025 income statement record that reduces confidence in the latest-year trend.

Income Statement

From 2020–2024, the company shows steady top-line expansion (revenue rising from ~53.9M to ~75.0M) and consistently strong profitability for a regulated utility profile (net margin generally ~27%–33%). However, the 2025 annual record appears internally inconsistent (revenue reported as 0 with negative gross profit, while EBIT and net income remain positive), which reduces confidence in the latest-year trend signals and pulls down the score despite otherwise stable earnings power.

Balance Sheet

Leverage has trended higher over time, with total debt increasing materially (from ~123.6M in 2020 to ~232.2M in 2025) and debt-to-equity moving toward ~1.0 in the latest period (about 0.97 in 2025). Equity has grown (about 143.3M in 2020 to ~240.3M in 2025), and return on equity remains in a steady mid-to-high single-digit range (~8%–11%), but the rising debt load limits balance-sheet flexibility relative to earlier years.

Cash Flow

Operating cash flow is consistently positive and generally covers net income (coverage above 1x in each year shown), which supports earnings quality. The key weakness is free cash flow: it is negative in every year from 2020–2024 (suggesting heavy capital spending), with large deficits in 2022–2024, and the free-cash-flow trend is volatile. While 2025 shows positive free cash flow (equal to operating cash flow in the data), the sharp swing versus prior years increases uncertainty around durability.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	77.49M	74.96M	71.03M	60.06M	55.12M
Gross Profit	42.44M	55.29M	53.67M	45.93M	43.30M
EBITDA	33.48M	43.79M	43.83M	35.73M	31.52M
Net Income	20.06M	20.32M	23.76M	19.58M	16.98M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	695.39M	633.47M	588.21M	510.60M	458.85M
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	1.00K	1.00K	1.00K	1.00K	1.00K
Total Debt	232.23M	205.56M	180.01M	139.47M	146.37M
Total Liabilities	455.04M	402.28M	367.03M	303.41M	306.23M
Stockholders Equity	240.35M	231.19M	221.18M	207.18M	152.62M
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	-18.86M	-18.45M	-33.36M	-31.90M	-23.44M
Operating Cash Flow	29.86M	30.56M	31.91M	22.02M	22.96M
Investing Cash Flow	-48.73M	-49.01M	-65.27M	-53.92M	-46.40M
Financing Cash Flow	18.86M	18.45M	33.36M	31.90M	18.44M

The York Water Company Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 32.64
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Positive
• STOCH: Positive

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For YORW, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 32.64 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 32.01, above the 50-day MA of 32.46, and above the 200-day MA of 31.38, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -0.62 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 28.55 is Positive, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 9.25 is Positive, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for YORW.

The York Water Company Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
ARTNA	67 Neutral	$318.90M	14.28	9.26%	3.87%	5.80%	12.33%
MSEX	67 Neutral	$929.25M	26.96	9.08%	2.67%	6.24%	3.35%
Sector *	66 Neutral	$17.65B	18.10	5.60%	3.62%	6.62%	11.55%
CWCO	64 Neutral	$487.23M	30.64	―	1.40%	-17.62%	-54.25%
YORW	58 Neutral	$431.58M	22.20	8.49%	2.68%	3.63%	-5.82%
CDZI	55 Neutral	$382.31M	-13.71	-136.36%	―	188.33%	4.12%
GWRS	54 Neutral	$215.10M	77.24	3.58%	3.56%	7.06%	-38.94%