American Water Works (AWK) shares ended the last trading session 6.8% higher at $129.95. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 2.9% loss over the past four weeks.

American Water Works has been investing regularly to upgrade and maintain its water and wastewater infrastructure. The company plans to invest $3.3 billion in 2025 to strengthen and expand its water and wastewater infrastructure and efficiently serve its expanding customer base.  The company continues to expand its customer base through organic and inorganic initiatives. Over the long term, the company aims to invest in the range of $17-$18 billion in the 2025-2029 period.
 
American Water Works’ 100% net income is generated from regulated operations and AWK’s focus on expanding regulated operations through capital investments is yielding stable returns, which has allowed the company to increase shareholders’ value.

This water utility is expected to post quarterly earnings of $1.13 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +28.4%. Revenues are expected to be $1.08 billion, up 4.5% from the year-ago quarter.

Earnings and revenue growth expectations certainly give a good sense of the potential strength in a stock, but empirical research shows that trends in earnings estimate revisions are strongly correlated with near-term stock price movements.

For American Water Works, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on AWK going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

American Water Works is a member of the Zacks Utility - Water Supply industry. One other stock in the same industry, American States Water (AWR), finished the last trading session 4.5% higher at $74.71. AWR has returned -8.3% over the past month.

For American States Water , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $0.60. This represents a change of +9.1% from what the company reported a year ago. American States Water currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

American Water Works Company, Inc. (AWK) : Free Stock Analysis Report

American States Water Company (AWR) : Free Stock Analysis Report

To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

Zacks Investment Research