Gabelli Maintains Buy on American Water Works

Gabelli is out with its report today on American Water Works

, maintaining Buy. In a note to clients, Gabelli writes, "We regard AWK as a high quality conservative utility with unique growth opportunities. Shares trade at 18.0X and 16.5X our 2011 and 2012 EPS estimates compared to the water utility group, which currently trades at 20.0X and 18.6X 2011 and 2012 EPS estimates. On a price-to-book value basis, AWK shares trade at 180% of tangible book value versus group average multiples of 179%. Our 2011 PMV is $44 per share." At the time of posting, shares of AWK were trading pre-market at $29.72, up 0.20% from Monday's close.