Conferencia de resultados del T2 de 2026 de Global Water Resources (GWRS): los ingresos suben un 24,8 % y los procesos tarifarios avanzan

Puntos clave

• Los ingresos del segundo trimestre de 2026 aumentaron un 24,8% interanual hasta los 17,8 millones de dólares, lo que incluye 2,1 millones de dólares de ingresos diferidos reconocidos en virtud de acuerdos de coordinación y financiación de infraestructuras (ICFA).
• Los ingresos regulados aumentaron un 9,9% hasta los 15,7 millones de dólares, respaldados por la adquisición en julio de 2025 de siete sistemas de Tucson Water, el crecimiento orgánico de las conexiones, el mayor consumo y el incremento de las tarifas.
• El beneficio neto alcanzó los 2,7 millones de dólares, o 0,10 dólares por acción diluida, en comparación con los 1,6 millones de dólares, o 0,06 dólares por acción diluida, del segundo trimestre de 2025. El EBITDA ajustado aumentó un 15% hasta los 7,9 millones de dólares.
• Las conexiones activas de servicio aumentaron un 5,8% interanual hasta alcanzar las 69.429 al 30 de junio de 2026. Las conexiones activas orgánicas crecieron un 2,7%, mientras que la dirección señaló que la tasa de crecimiento orgánico alcanzó el 3,2% en los últimos tres meses.
• Un acuerdo tarifario unánime en GW-Santa Cruz contempla aproximadamente 1,9 millones de dólares en ingresos anuales netos adicionales con efecto a partir del 1 de noviembre de 2026, sujeto al proceso regulatorio pendiente.
• El aumento de la depreciación, los costes médicos, la energía comprada y los gastos por intereses siguieron siendo factores clave de presión tras las sustanciales inversiones de capital en 2025.

Datos financieros principales

Durante el primer semestre de 2026, los ingresos aumentaron un 16,3% hasta los 31,1 millones de dólares, mientras que los ingresos regulados crecieron un 8,4% hasta los 28,9 millones de dólares. El beneficio neto fue de 2,4 millones de dólares, o 0,08 dólares por acción diluida, frente a los 2,2 millones de dólares y 0,08 dólares por acción diluida de un año antes. El EBITDA ajustado se incrementó un 8% hasta los 13,5 millones de dólares.

Rendimiento operativo y del negocio

La aportación de 2,1 millones de dólares a los ingresos por ICFA se produjo tras la puesta en servicio de la primera planta de aguas residuales de GW-Hassayampa, lo que permitió a Global Water Resources reconocer ingresos previamente diferidos tras cumplir sus obligaciones contractuales.

La empresa invirtió 6,6 millones de dólares en infraestructuras de servicios públicos existentes durante el segundo trimestre. La depreciación, amortización y acumulación aumentaron en 1,1 millones de dólares interanuales, debido principalmente a los activos de servicios públicos que entraron en funcionamiento tras el programa de mejoras de capital de 2025.

Los costes de operaciones y mantenimiento aumentaron en aproximadamente 0,6 millones de dólares. La dirección atribuyó esta subida a los gastos médicos, al mayor coste de la energía comprada vinculado a las instalaciones recientemente operativas y al mayor consumo, así como a una pérdida por la baja de plantas de servicios públicos.

Los permisos de construcción de viviendas unifamiliares en el área metropolitana de Phoenix disminuyeron un 4,7% interanual hasta los 5.653 durante el segundo trimestre, mientras que los permisos en Maricopa aumentaron un 5,7% hasta los 185. La dirección considera que la ralentización general es temporal y espera que las zonas de servicio de la empresa se beneficien de la asequibilidad, el crecimiento del empleo, las mejoras en la Ruta Estatal 347 y el suministro de agua disponible.

La dirección también destacó el aumento del desarrollo comercial y multifamiliar, lo que está provocando que el crecimiento de los ingresos regulados se desvíe del crecimiento del número de conexiones de contadores.

Previsiones de la dirección

La dirección se propone mantener los gastos generales y administrativos lo más estables posible durante el resto de 2026. La empresa no facilitó estimaciones numéricas para las inversiones de capital, pero señaló que la inversión en 2027 debería situarse por debajo del elevado nivel de 2025 y más cerca de las normas históricas.

Global Water Resources prevé que en la primera mitad de 2027 se presenten cuatro solicitudes de revisión de tarifas para GW-Palo Verde, GW-Saguaro, GW-Farmers y GW-Ocotillo. Se prevé que estas solicitudes utilicen un año de prueba 2026 y un año posterior a la prueba 2027, lo que se traducirá en estimaciones de nuevas tarifas en 2028.

La empresa también está realizando una planificación preliminar para otra revisión de tarifas en GW-Santa Cruz utilizando un año de prueba 2027, con una posible presentación en 2028 y nuevas tarifas estimadas para 2029.

Riesgos y aspectos a vigilar

• El marco regulatorio de Arizona basado en un año de prueba histórico retrasa la recuperación de las inversiones de capital y los costes vinculados a la inflación. La dirección afirmó que esta discrepancia temporal continuó ejerciendo presión sobre el beneficio neto y el BPA.
• El gasto por depreciación se mantiene elevado tras la sustancial inversión de 2025, incluida la reapertura de la planta de regeneración de agua Southwest Plant.
• Los gastos médicos, la energía comprada y los gastos por intereses aumentaron, mientras que los ingresos por intereses disminuyeron.
• La actividad de permisos para viviendas nuevas en toda el área metropolitana de Phoenix se ralentizó en 2026, aunque la dirección citó una mejora reciente en el crecimiento orgánico de las conexiones.
• La recuperación tarifaria de GW-Palo Verde se ha retrasado debido a las discrepancias sobre el momento de recuperación relacionado con la planta Southwest Plant.

Puntos destacados de las preguntas y respuestas con analistas

La dirección indicó que el reciente desarrollo económico y la ampliación de la Ruta Estatal 347 podrían respaldar un mayor crecimiento de clientes. Estimó que los grandes proyectos de empleo y el desarrollo residencial asociado generalmente se trasladan a la demanda de servicios públicos en un ciclo de dos a tres años.

Sobre las adquisiciones, la empresa afirmó que su prioridad actual es integrar los sistemas adquiridos, completar las revisiones tarifarias requeridas y recuperar el capital invertido en esas empresas de servicios públicos.

En cuanto a la financiación, la dirección señaló que por lo general parte de una estructura de capital objetivo del 50% de fondos propios y el 50% de deuda. La combinación final depende del precio de las acciones, las condiciones del mercado de capitales, los tipos de interés de los préstamos y la posible dilución de los accionistas.

Transcripción completa de la llamada de resultados

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Comentarios de la dirección

Operator

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Global Water Resources, Inc. 2026 Second Quarter Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would like to remind everyone that this call is being recorded on August 13, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Kyle Upchurch, Controller. Please go ahead.

Kyle Upchurch

Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone. Thank you for joining us on today's call. Yesterday, we issued our 2026 second quarter financial results by press release, a copy of which is available on our website at gwresources.com. Speaking today is Ron Fleming, President and Chief Executive Officer; Mike Liebman, Chief Financial Officer; and Chris Krygier, Chief Operating Officer. Ron will summarize key operational events, Mike will review the financial results for the second quarter, and Chris will review Arizona Corporation Commission activities.

Ron, Mike, and Chris will be available for questions at the end of the call. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that certain information presented today may include forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the company's current expectations, estimates, projections, and assumptions regarding future events. These forward-looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks, uncertainties, estimates, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements.

Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which reflect management's views as of the date hereof and are not guarantees of future performance. For additional information regarding factors that may affect future results, please read the risk factors and MD&A sections of our periodic SEC filings. Additionally, certain non-GAAP measures may be included within today's call. For reconciliation of those measures to the comparable GAAP measures, please see the tables included in yesterday's earnings release, which is available on our website.

I'll now turn the call over to Ron.

Ron Fleming

Thank you, Kyle. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. First, before jumping to our normal operating highlights, I would like to emphasize our focus on earnings growth. While many key metrics of our business have experienced -- excuse me, we've experienced strong growth over the last five years, our goal is to also achieve long-term earnings growth. We are committed to this objective, which we believe will allow us to enhance shareholder value.

As we reported previously in 2025, we had a near-record year for capital investments that were critical to complete. This included the investment necessary to recommission our Southwest Plant Water Reclamation Facility, which was originally constructed 20 years ago but was mothballed during the Great Recession. Although these investments grow rate base considerably and ensure we can provide safe and reliable service to our customers and communities we have the privilege to serve, these investments increase certain operating expenses and, most notably, depreciation expense.

Such expenses continue to adversely impact net income and earnings per share in the second quarter of 2026. This is an unfortunate yet necessary part of the historical test year environment here in Arizona. Additionally, certain company expenses, such as medical, continue to grow at an unprecedented pace. As I have been saying for many quarters now, we need new rates to keep up with all the investment and inflation that we have experienced in our utilities.

To this end, while it represents a diversion from our original rate application, the recently announced rate case settlement provides a clearer path to a notable rate increase for our largest water utility, GW-Santa Cruz, later this year. For GW-Palo Verde, while delayed, the delay deals with the primary difference of opinion on the timing of rate recovery as it relates to that historical Southwest Plant issue. Thus, the new schedule provides a clearer path to setting appropriate rates for our largest wastewater utility in 2028.

Together, this will allow us to better realize recovery of inflationary expenses and return on and return of our plant investments, including the Southwest Plant, resulting in years of meaningful earnings growth ahead. Chris will discuss the rate case further and our planned rate case activity for other utilities later on the call. In the meantime, 2026 is about working hard to control G&A expenses, which we achieved in Q2. In the years to come, we believe we can maintain solid revenue and earnings growth as we seek to obtain appropriate rate increases combined with our anticipated organic growth. Now, I will provide a few operational highlights.

Total active service connections increased 5.8% to 69,429 as of June 30, 2026, from the 12 months prior. In 2026, we achieved an annualized 2.6% total active service connection growth rate, excluding the acquisition of the seven Tucson Water systems. Specifically, we invested $6.6 million into infrastructure improvements in existing utilities in the second quarter of 2026 to provide safe and reliable service. Now, I want to discuss organic customer growth and what is going on in our core utilities further.

The single-family dwelling unit market ended 2025 with approximately 21,815 building permits issued in the Phoenix Greater Metro statistical area. In the second quarter of 2026, this market realized 5,653 building permits, representing a 4.7% decrease compared to the same period in 2025. Meanwhile, the Maricopa market realized 185 building permits, representing a 5.7% increase from the same period in 2025.

While new permit activity across the Phoenix MSA has slowed in 2026 and particularly in the city of Maricopa is reflected in the company's 2.7% year-over-year organic increase in active connections. We believe the decline in permits is temporary, as we remain well-positioned to benefit from the anticipated long-term growth of the Phoenix MSA and our specific area drivers, including job growth, affordability, and improving transportation, including State Route 347 widening, and our large assured water supply.

I will now turn the call over to Mike for financial highlights.

Michael Liebman

Thanks, Ron. Hello, everyone. Total revenue for the second quarter of 2026 was $17.8 million, which was up $3.5 million, or 24.8%, compared to Q2 2025. Total revenue for the year-to-date period increased $4.4 million, or 16.3%, to $31.1 million. The revenue increase in both periods was primarily attributable to unregulated revenue recognition of $2.1 million related to infrastructure coordination and financing agreements, also known as ICFAs, the acquisition of seven water systems from Tucson Water in July 2025, organic connection growth, increased consumption, and higher rates.

A more fulsome explanation of ICFAs can be found in our most recent Form 10-K filing. However, just for some background, ICFAs are agreements we entered into with developers and homebuilders whereby Global Water provides services to plan, coordinate, and finance the water and wastewater infrastructure that would otherwise be required to be performed or subcontracted by the developer or homebuilder. During the quarter, our GW-Hassayampa utility put its first wastewater plant into service, allowing us to recognize deferred revenue as we met all of our contractual obligations under the related ICFA agreement.

Now turning to regulated revenue, which excludes ICFA revenue, for Q2 was $15.7 million, which was up $1.4 million, or 9.9%, compared to Q2 '25. Regulated revenue for the year-to-date period increased $2.2 million, or 8.4%, to $28.9 million. Operating expenses for Q2 2026 increased approximately $1.7 million, or 14.1%, to $13.3 million compared to $11.6 million in Q2 2025. Operating expenses for the year-to-date period increased approximately $3.3 million, or 14.6%, to $26.2 million compared to the same period in 2025.

Notable changes in operating expenses included depreciation, amortization, and accretion increased $1.1 million for Q2 and $2 million for the year-to-date period. The increase in both periods was substantially attributable to the additional depreciable utility plant placed in service last year as a result of our 2025 capital improvement plan and the commissioning of related projects. Operations and maintenance costs increased approximately $0.6 million for Q2 and $1.1 million for the year-to-date period.

The increase in both expense periods was primarily driven by: one, rising medical expenses; two, higher purchased power tied to newly operational plant and increased consumption; and three, a loss on the disposal of utility plants. G&A costs remained relatively flat at $4.3 million in Q2 '26 compared to $4.4 million in Q2 '25. G&A costs for the year-to-date period increased $0.2 million to $8.8 million.

Now to discuss other expense. Other expense for Q2 '26 was $0.8 million compared to $0.4 million in Q2 '25. Other expense for the year-to-date period was $1.6 million compared to $0.9 million in the same prior year period. The increase in both periods is primarily attributable to higher interest expense and lower interest income. Net income for Q2 of '26 was $2.7 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, as compared to net income of $1.6 million, or $0.06 per diluted share, in Q2 '25.

Net income for the year-to-date period was $2.4 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, as compared to net income of $2.2 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA adjusts for certain items such as the recognition of deferred ICFA revenue, the loss on disposal of utility plant, and restricted stock expense. Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 of '26 was $7.9 million compared to $6.9 million in Q2 of '25, an increase of $1 million, or 15%.

Adjusted EBITDA for the year-to-date period was $13.5 million compared to $12.6 million in the prior year period, an increase of $0.9 million, or 8%. Lastly, in light of recent events, I would like to share that Global Water Resources and its family of utility companies was not impacted by the recent cyberattacks against water and wastewater infrastructure across the United States. This concludes our update on the second quarter of 2026 financial results.

I'll now pass the call to Chris to review our regulatory activity for the quarter.

Christopher Krygier

Thank you, Mike, and hello, everyone. We continue making progress in our GW-Santa Cruz rate review. As you saw in our press release, we concluded the hearing on the settlement agreement on August 3, 2026, and the case is now pending a recommended opinion and order from the administrative law judge. Once the recommendation is issued, it will appear at a Commission open meeting, which we estimate will happen later this year. Recall that the unanimous settlement agreement contemplates net increased revenues of approximately $1.9 million effective November 1, 2026.

Turning to future rate filings, we have already started working on the rate reviews for four utilities which we anticipate filing in the first half of 2027, including GW-Palo Verde and our three Pima County utilities, GW-Saguaro, GW-Farmers, and GW-Ocotillo. All four of those applications contemplate a 2026 test year with a 2027 post-test year implying estimated new rates in 2028.

In addition, we have started preliminary planning for our next GW-Santa Cruz rate review, tentatively scheduled to utilize a test year of 2027 to file in 2028 for estimated new rates in 2029. In all of these cases, we are notifying community stakeholders and the Arizona Corporation Commission staff on the importance of the investments being made and customer benefits. This concludes the update on regulatory activity for the quarter.

I'll now pass the call back to Ron.

Ron Fleming

Thank you, Chris. Despite the headwinds, our work continues and growth is strong. What we do and how we do what we do matters to our communities. We truly believe that expanding our total water management platform and applying our expertise throughout our regional service areas and to new utilities will be beneficial to all stakeholders involved. We appreciate your investment in and support of us as we grow Global Water to address important utility, water resource, and economic development matters along the Arizona Sun Corridor, allowing our communities to thrive.

These highlights conclude our prepared remarks. Thank you. We are now available to answer questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Brandon Rogers with ROTH Capital.

Preguntas y respuestas

Brandon B. Rogers

Hello, this is Brandon Rogers on for Gerry Sweeney. So first for me, so there's considerable development going on in the Phoenix metro area, like namely Intel, TSMC, as well as the State Route 347 improvement project. How do you see this development potentially impacting the region and Global Water as a whole?

Michael Liebman

Yes, Brandon. Hey, this is Mike. Happy to answer that question. So I think, as we've seen permits have kind of steadied out or flattened out, and we're starting to see a slight upward trajectory as Ron mentioned, in Q2 of this year. And so, with the acceleration of that 347 State Route and Intel and the likes that you mentioned, we are optimistic that that's going to continue to grow from where we're at right now.

Additionally, we'll point out that the Arizona Commerce Authority in FY '26, which ended in June, they just put a report out last month where it was the biggest economic development year yet. So there was about 26,000 projected new jobs coming, and there was an investment of more than $109 billion in the community statewide. So those are both single-year records. So that's a pretty significant development, not to mention the prior six years was about another $170 billion. So it's a pretty massive one year, and we're pretty excited to see the prospects of what comes from that.

Brandon B. Rogers

Thanks. I appreciate that color. Then another one I have is, your G&A was down slightly year-over-year as you continue bringing costs down. What should we think about as the run rate for G&A for the remainder of the year?

Michael Liebman

Yes, that's a great question, Brandon. It's Mike again. I'll take a first stab at that, and Ron, feel free to chime in. But I think, look, that's something that we've actively been working on this year, and we've done a pretty good job, and our plan is to continue that run rate. So to the extent that we can keep those as flat as possible, that's the goal. And so that's our plan.

Brandon B. Rogers

And then just one more from me. Given the company's significant 2025 capital investments, what is the 2026, '27 capital expenditure outlook?

Michael Liebman

So this is Mike again, Brandon. We don't really give guidance, but what we have said is, you know, '25, because it was part of a post-test year, we made pretty significant investments, that '27 would definitely be lower than that, kind of somewhere around what the normal norms have been. That's kind of the direction we give, but we don't really give guidance, so that's about as much color as I can give you on that.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Andrew McLaren with Viking Capital. Please go ahead.

Unknown Analyst

The first question I have is just in terms of the acquisition pipeline, how is that looking today versus like in, say, the last three to five years?

Christopher Krygier

Yes, thanks, Andrew. This is Chris. So, it's something that's always on our radar. Obviously, we had a pretty significant program over the past five years. We've really been, right now, focused on integrating those acquisitions, filing for the necessary reviews, and that's been our focus, and then recovering the capital investments that we've been making in those utilities along with the rest of the company, as you've heard earlier. So that's been our primary focus in the past coming up.

Unknown Analyst

Okay. And then I just have one more. In terms of, if additional capital is required, how are you evaluating equity versus potential debt at current share prices?

Michael Liebman

Yes, this is Mike. It's a great question. And obviously, we try to have a pretty smooth capital structure at 50-50 equity debt. That's the approach that we take going into it. Depending on the situation where we're at, where the stock price is, where the capital markets are, where the debt rates are, it all comes into the equation, because we're obviously being mindful of the dilutive nature of equity capital to our shareholders. So we try to find that balance. But we start at that 50-50.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Varyk Kutnick with Divyde Capital Partners.

Varyk Kutnick

So maybe give me a little color on what you're seeing on the ground from developers right now, permits, absorption, new communities. I guess I kind of want to get some timeline on the leading indicators, second-order effects, and where that starts to flow through to you guys.

Ron Fleming

Yes, hey, Varyk, happy to take that. This is Ron. So, as Mike kind of mentioned, and it was in some of the numbers we talked about earlier, it's been slow year-over-year for a while, but it kind of bottomed out a bit in 2025 and early '26 in the high 2% range. And I'm talking about the single-family permits. But it did increase a little bit in our major territory here in 2026. And I can just tell you over the last three months, our actual organic growth rate ticked back up to 3.2%, so north of 3%, which we hadn't seen in a few years.

So interestingly, despite the macro stuff, and we could spend all day debating that stuff in our specific areas, we think it's primarily just because of that economic development boom that continues in Phoenix and the fact that our areas have the best affordability in really the Metro Phoenix market. We did fine through kind of all of that headwind. So we think it's going to continue to pick up. Our development services team is as active as ever.

But the other thing I really want to focus everybody on is, we're also converting these communities more from single-family homes to large multifamily apartment complexes, etc. So we've seen more activity on that front than we ever have over the last two years. And that continues as well. And that's why kind of for the first time in our 20-ish year history, top-line revenue growth diverts a little bit from meter connection growth. And it's because these big projects are coming in, but also these communities are filling in very nicely with commercial property as well.

So again, regulated year-over-year revenue growth was 9.9%. Obviously, we acquired the Tucson systems and there's some other things going in there, but kind of have all of that data put together, it'll show like we're in a pretty good spot. We think it's -- growth is going to actually accelerate. And the last point I'll make on that, which we've talked about, issued press releases on, and someone brought it up earlier, is to have this type of economic development, this type of growth, the other key piece other than water, which we take care of here in Arizona, is transportation.

And I don't think I can say enough how important we think this 347 highway widening is to our biggest service area. Look, they're basically turning a highway into a freeway, 15 miles direct access to the Phoenix market, and yet our homes are 20%, 30% less than what it costs to be on the other side of that freeway system. So all things are kind of coming together, we think, pretty well, and so that's how good we feel about it. And that's all before all the rate cases that Chris walked you through earlier.

Varyk Kutnick

Right, so I mean, again, timing here. If a large employer announces a project, the second-order effects happen first, right? Household formation, multifamily, widening of the highway. How long before you see things actually showing up in your numbers? What is that cycle like?

Ron Fleming

Yes, I think you're starting to see it based on the large overall market economic development numbers that we've been talking about for two years now. But what's interesting is, as Mike mentioned, that's been accelerating, so there's more investment. So I think it goes like this, to answer your question specifically. The announcement's made, these type of projects don't let grass grow. They make the announcement because they are ready to go.

They build on an aggressive timeline, two-ish years. They're employing people a year out so they employ you when you're ready to turn the facility on. I think the economic development, horizontal piece that goes along with it from a housing perspective is usually about breaking ground to getting finished lots ready about 18 months. The developers know what's going on. They're doing that in parallel with the big projects.

So, I mean, it's really kind of a two to three-year cycle. I just think we're just now experiencing all the major stuff that's been announced and going on over the last two to three years. And over the next two to three years, it's going to accelerate because the numbers are going up.

Operator

At this time, this concludes our question-and-answer session. I'd like to now turn the call back over to Mr. Fleming. Sir, please go ahead.

Ron Fleming

All right. Thank you, operator. I just want to thank everybody for participating on the call today and for your ongoing interest in Global Water. Thanks, and we look forward to speaking with you again.

Operator

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.