$Pistol Pete$, $Mick$ & Friends Stock Picks /news, DD and charts

[mick]

American States Water (NYSE:AWR) is an interesting utility because it reaches across a couple lines of business. It’s a company that manages water resources for over 80 communities in California, particularly around Los Angeles.

But it also has divisions that provide electricity and contracted services to over a million customers in nine states.

Water is becoming an increasingly important resource. And water utilities are becoming key assets to manage these resources. As we have seen in Michigan and Georgia, as well as many other states, old infrastructure is endangering the lives of citizens.

In agricultural states like California, wise management of resources for business and the citizenry is becoming ever more complex.

AWR stock has had a run in the past year, up 46% in the past 12 months and 33% year to date. Given that move, its dividend has diminished, but it still delivers at almost 1.4%, which may not beat current CD rates, but they don’t offer the growth potential of AWR stock, either.