Cadiz Inc. (CDZIP): fair value, margin of safety and Wheel Score

Is CDZIP undervalued?

Cadiz Inc. (CDZIP) closed at 19.41 on 5 Nov 2026, 339% above the GLS average fair value of 4.42. 1 of the 1 models that produced a number value the shares below the current price. A gap this wide usually means the market is paying for growth or a story the trailing numbers do not show yet; the models work from filed results, not forecasts, so they are conservative by design.

Only 1 of the nine models produced a value (DDM); the others need a dividend, positive free cash flow or positive book value the company does not have yet, so the average rests on a narrow base.

The nightly engine files CDZIP under Speculative - it is losing money or its Piotroski health score is 3 or lower - which caps its Wheel Score at 45 and keeps it out of the Sunday Scan.

Nine valuation models for CDZIP

Each model turns the latest filed numbers into a value per share; the GLS fair value is the simple average of the ones that produce a positive number. The last two rows are shown for reference and never enter the average. The Quote page lets you switch any model off and add your own margin of safety.

Quality and financial health

Financial health is weak: CDZIP passes 2 of the nine Piotroski tests. Our scans drop the stock at the health filter; a low score is often the reason a stock looks cheap on the valuation models. The GLS Moat score is low at 2.5 out of 10: returns on capital, margins or the balance sheet have not shown a lasting edge yet - often a young company, a thin-margin business or one that has only recently turned profitable.

Returns on capital are thin or negative - ROIC -26.8%, ROE -146.8%, ROA -24.2% - with debt at 4.48 times equity and negative free cash flow. Debt of 4.48 times equity is on the high side for the sector and is worth checking against the cash flow before treating the stock as a long-term hold.

The dividend yield is 1.55% at a payout ratio of -14%; for a wheel trader holding assigned shares the dividend adds to the covered-call premium, and the ex-dividend date is worth knowing before a call is sold. Revenue comes mainly from Water Treatment 100% (quarter Q2 FY2026).

Institutional ownership scores 5/10, insider activity 10/10 and Congressional trading 5/10 on the GLS smart-money scales.

Wheel Score 10: No options

CDZIP has no listed options in the nightly snapshot, so there is nothing to sell and the stock cannot be wheeled however good the business. It fails the first Wheel Trade Filter (options that actually trade), so the score stays under 70 and is shown as "No options" (10 here). The valuation and quality numbers still apply to owning the shares outright.

Volume runs at 9k shares a day on a market cap of $330M, with a beta of 1.86 - a high beta, so the stock tends to move more than the market and a strike can be gapped through; the Stability part of the Wheel Score rates that weak.

The Wheel Score ranks ~7,400 US stocks for selling cash-secured puts and covered calls: a stock must pass all 9 Wheel Trade Filters to score 70, and the score then ranks the ones that pass; the Sunday Scan is the top 10. It is updated nightly and is not a recommendation. How the Wheel Score works · the walkthrough lesson shows how it fits into a trade, start to finish.

Upcoming events

Cadiz Inc. reports earnings on 6 Nov 2026 (before the open) - inside the 14-day window the Sunday Scan avoids, because a put sold now would carry the report's gap risk.

Earnings, dividend, IPO, split and economic calendars for the whole market, filterable to your watchlists.

Similar stocks in Regulated Water

The 12 companies below are the closest to Cadiz Inc. by market cap within the Regulated Water industry, each with its own fact sheet; the Compare page puts up to eight of them side by side.

⚖ Compare CDZIP with 7 of them   All Utilities stocks →