After the American Water Works Association’s Annual Conference & Exposition was held this week in Boston, we have been looking for commentary and analysis for ideas behind the hot and secular theme of investing in water. The team at Canaccord Genuity identified several names to look at, but only two of them had Buy ratings.

John Quealy and Chip Moore’s fresh analyst report on water opportunities said that the familiar sector themes in water were in conservation, desalination, energy efficiency, regulatory dynamics, measurement technology and data analytics.

Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) was listed as having a Buy rating as well. At $109.35, it has a consensus price target of almost $119, and it just recently hit yet another all-time high of $111.83. The company’s Nalco business was at the show demonstrating its Purate on-site chlorine dioxide systems. The team said that they continue to like the company’s customer focus and use of key technologies such as 3D Trasar.

Another stock with a Buy rating was Abengoa S.A. (NASDAQ: ABGB) in Spain. The company’s Abeinsa business unit was at the show, and the analysts feel that it has a strong pipeline of potential future concession assets for the company. This includes a recently awarded desalination plant in Morocco, and the firm’s water supply and distribution operations with 16 plants, more than 14 desalination plants either completed or underway, 10 drinking water treatment plants and 14 wastewater solution plants. At $27.75, Abengoa hit a new high of $27.80 on Thursday, with a 52-week low of $10.04.

Investing in water does come with a secular theme for those investors who are looking out a decade and longer. The problem is that many companies involved in water have diversified operations in chemicals and various services around other liquids or environmental issues.

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