Dividend Power Score
A single, comprehensive score designed to measure the true strength of a company’s dividend.
This score combines three essential pillars of dividend quality:
Consistency – Measures how reliable the dividend has been over time, focusing on payment history, stability, and the absence of cuts or suspensions.
Payability – Assesses the company’s financial ability to sustain its dividend, taking into account cash flow, earnings coverage, balance sheet strength, and overall financial health.
Growth – Evaluates the long-term growth of both the dividend and the company’s share price, highlighting businesses that consistently increase payouts while creating shareholder value.
Higher scores identify companies that have historically delivered dependable income alongside sustained dividend growth and long-term capital appreciation.
Company Overview
Cadiz Inc. is a U.S.-based land and water resource development company focused on water supply, water storage, groundwater management, and agricultural operations in the arid Southwestern United States. The company operates primarily in the environmental infrastructure and agricultural sectors, with its core activities centered on developing groundwater resources, water conveyance systems, and sustainable farming operations. Cadiz is best known for its ownership of substantial land and groundwater assets in California’s Mojave Desert and for pursuing long-term water supply and storage projects intended to serve municipalities, water districts, and industrial users across Southern California and neighboring regions.
The company’s principal revenue drivers historically have included agricultural operations, land and water asset management, and infrastructure-related development initiatives. Cadiz has positioned itself as a long-duration water infrastructure developer with strategic control over large-scale landholdings and groundwater basins connected to existing regional transportation and pipeline corridors. Founded in 1983, the company evolved from a land and agricultural enterprise into a water resource infrastructure company, emphasizing groundwater banking, conservation, and water conveyance projects amid increasing water scarcity pressures in the American Southwest.
Business Operations
Cadiz conducts operations primarily through its land, water, and agricultural assets in San Bernardino County, California. Its major operational focus includes the Cadiz Water Project, which is designed to capture, conserve, store, and deliver groundwater resources through connections to existing regional pipeline infrastructure. The company also operates agricultural activities on owned farmland, cultivating crops such as lemons and other produce adapted to desert conditions. Revenue generation has historically been limited relative to larger infrastructure companies because several major water projects remain in development or permitting phases, although agricultural leasing and farming activities contribute operating income.
The company controls significant groundwater basin rights and extensive acreage in the Mojave Desert, which serve as foundational strategic assets. Cadiz has entered into agreements and partnerships with regional water agencies, infrastructure operators, and public utilities related to water transport and storage initiatives. Subsidiaries and affiliated operations include Cadiz Real Estate LLC and water-related project entities tied to the company’s infrastructure initiatives. The company’s projects rely heavily on environmental permitting, regulatory approvals, pipeline access agreements, and long-term municipal water supply contracts.
Strategic Position & Investments
Cadiz’s strategic direction centers on developing water infrastructure solutions addressing long-term drought conditions, groundwater sustainability requirements, and population growth in the Southwestern United States. Key growth initiatives include expanding groundwater storage capacity, advancing pipeline and conveyance infrastructure, and integrating water conservation technologies into regional supply systems. The company has emphasized the strategic importance of water banking and aquifer storage as climate variability increases pressure on existing municipal water sources.
Major investments have included continued development expenditures related to the Cadiz Water Project, groundwater monitoring systems, land management infrastructure, and rights-of-way associated with transportation and utility corridors. Cadiz has also pursued opportunities involving renewable energy corridor access and infrastructure compatibility with future environmental resource projects. The company’s strategic positioning is closely tied to its ownership of extensive desert landholdings and groundwater resources near major Southern California population centers. While Cadiz has announced multiple infrastructure and partnership initiatives over time, some projects have experienced delays tied to litigation, environmental review processes, and regulatory scrutiny. Data regarding the ultimate scale and timing of certain proposed projects remains inconclusive based on available public sources.
Geographic Footprint
Cadiz Inc. is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, and its primary operational assets are located in the Mojave Desert region of San Bernardino County, California. The company’s activities are concentrated within the Southwestern United States, particularly in water-stressed regions of Southern California, where municipal and agricultural demand for long-term water supplies remains significant. Its infrastructure initiatives are designed to connect with broader regional water transportation systems serving urban and industrial customers across California and potentially neighboring states.
Although Cadiz does not maintain a broad multinational operating footprint comparable to large global infrastructure firms, its strategic influence is tied to critical water supply considerations affecting major population and economic centers in the American Southwest. The company’s projects intersect with regional environmental policy, public utility planning, and interstate infrastructure discussions involving groundwater sustainability and drought resilience.
Leadership & Governance
Cadiz Inc. leadership has historically emphasized long-term resource stewardship, infrastructure development, and the commercialization of strategic water assets amid increasing climate and supply challenges in the Western United States. Governance and strategic planning are shaped by expertise spanning water law, infrastructure finance, agriculture, environmental regulation, and public policy.
Key executives include:
- Susan P. Kennedy – Executive Chair
- Scott S. Slater – Chief Executive Officer and President
- Timothy J. Shaheen – Chief Financial Officer
- Lee Ann De Reus – Chief Development Officer
- Ross Brown – General Counsel and Secretary
The company’s leadership strategy has focused on securing regulatory approvals, expanding infrastructure partnerships, and positioning Cadiz as a long-term participant in California’s evolving water management framework. Public filings, including SEC filings and investor disclosures, indicate that management continues to prioritize water conservation infrastructure, groundwater storage capabilities, and strategic utility relationships as core elements of corporate development.