Will Customer Growth Support Essential Utilities ' Long-Term Earnings?

Essential Utilities WTRG is benefiting from customer-base growth driven by organic expansion and water and wastewater acquisitions. This expansion broadens its service footprint, increases demand for essential utility services and supports infrastructure expansion across its regulated operations.

The company added more than 138,000 customers or equivalent dwelling units since 2015, while pending acquisitions are expected to serve more than 200,000 additional customers. It also completed the acquisition of Integra Water Texas’ wastewater system, adding approximately 1,100 customers, while its active municipal acquisition pipeline represents about 400,000 potential customers.

The company’s signed purchase agreements cover more than 200,000 customers for about $282 million.  WTRG’s customer expansion is also supported by infrastructure spending, and it plans to invest about $1.7 billion in 2026 while targeting 5-7% annual EPS growth through 2027.

Overall, acquisitions and infrastructure investments are expected to support WTRG’s long-term expansion and customer growth.

Customer Growth Strengthens Utility Expansion

Growing customer numbers can benefit water utilities by increasing demand for essential services and creating opportunities to expand infrastructure. A broader customer base can also help utilities generate stable revenues while enabling continued investments in water systems, treatment facilities and network upgrades.

American Water Works AWK added about 52,700 customer connections through acquisitions in the first half of 2026, supporting expansion across its regulated water footprint. 

California Water Service Group CWT serves about 2 million people through 497,600 California connections, while acquisitions and infrastructure investments provide additional opportunities for customer and rate-base growth.

The Zacks Rundown on WTRG

WTRG’s Earnings Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 and 2027 EPS indicates a year-over-year increase of 0.45% and 9.73%, respectively.

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WTRG’s Stock Trading at a Premium 

WTRG is trading at a premium to the industry, with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45 versus the industry average of 17.34X.

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WTRG’s Stock Price Performance

In the past month, the company’s shares have risen 5.9% compared with the industry’s 0.7% growth.

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WTRG’s Zacks Rank

WTRG currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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