Company Overview
Cadiz Inc. operates within the Utilities sector, specifically focusing on the Regulated Water industry, providing specialized water solutions across the United States. The company's business model is structured around two primary segments, Land and Water Resources, and Water Filtration Technology, offering essential services including water supply, storage, conveyance, and filtration. In terms of scale, the available data indicates a market capitalization of N/A, an annual revenue of $15.98 million, and an employee count of 25. These financial figures suggest that Cadiz Inc. functions as a small-cap entity with a highly specialized operational footprint, rather than a large-scale utility provider with broad national infrastructure dominance. The absence of a standard market cap listing often reflects the unique regulatory or holding structure typical of regulated water assets, distinguishing it from publicly traded utility peers that trade at traditional valuations.
Financial Health
The company reported revenue of $15.98 million over the trailing twelve months, yet it posted a net income of $-38,126,000 and an EBITDA of $-23,615,000, revealing a significant discrepancy between top-line generation and bottom-line profitability. This substantial gap between revenue and net income indicates a cost structure where operating expenses, interest costs, or non-operating charges far exceed gross profits, resulting in a highly leveraged or loss-making operational dynamic. Free cash flow stands at $-18,032,876, which signifies a negative cash generation capability that limits the company's financial flexibility to fund capital expenditures or reduce debt without external financing. Margin analysis shows a gross margin of 32.5%, which suggests a moderate ability to cover the direct costs of providing water services, but this is overwhelmed by an operating margin of -118.0% and a profit margin of -206.6%, both of which indicate severe operational or financial distress. On the balance sheet, the company holds $4.43 million in cash against total debt of $90.72 million, creating a debt-to-equity ratio of 327.13 that characterizes an extremely aggressive and leveraged capital structure. The current ratio of 1.26 provides a measure of short-term liquidity, indicating that the company possesses just enough current assets to cover its current liabilities, though this buffer is thin given the heavy debt burden. Finally, the return on equity is -136.4% and the return on assets is -12.9%, metrics that reveal management is currently destroying shareholder value and failing to generate returns on the capital employed in the business.
Valuation Assessment
The trailing P/E ratio is N/A and the forward P/E is N/A, meaning traditional earnings-based valuation multiples cannot be applied to assess the company's expected earnings trajectory due to its negative earnings profile. However, the price-to-book ratio is 57.46, which indicates a significant market premium over book value, suggesting that the market is pricing in future recovery potential or asset value that is not yet reflected in current earnings. Alternative valuation metrics such as the price-to-sales ratio of N/A and an EV/EBITDA of -72.00 further complicate the valuation picture, as negative EV/EBITDA confirms that the company's enterprise value is heavily weighted by debt rather than operational cash generation. Regarding price levels, the stock has a 52-week high of $20.20 and a 52-week low of $16.27, placing the current trading price within this established range but subject to significant volatility. The beta value of 2.11 indicates that the stock price is highly volatile relative to the broader market, moving more than twice as much as the S&P 500 index during periods of market fluctuation.
Growth & Income
Revenue growth year-over-year is recorded at 28.7%, while earnings growth is N/A due to the company's persistent negative net income, implying that top-line expansion has not yet translated into profitability or bottom-line improvement. As a company with negative earnings and a payout ratio of N/A, Cadiz Inc. does not distribute dividends to shareholders, instead retaining its limited cash resources to service its substantial debt obligations or maintain operations. The high dividend yield of 11.5% listed in the data reflects the high market price relative to the nominal dividend or potentially a past yield that is no longer sustainable given the negative net income and lack of a defined payout ratio. The overall growth and income profile is characterized by strong top-line expansion in the water services sector but is severely constrained by a lack of profitability and an inability to deliver returns on equity or assets to investors.