Company Overview
Curtiss-Wright Corporation operates as a provider of engineered products, solutions, and services primarily serving the aerospace and defense, commercial nuclear power, process, and industrial markets on a global basis. The company functions within the Industrials sector, specifically the Aerospace & Defense industry, positioning it as a critical supplier of specialized components essential for complex manufacturing environments. In terms of scale, the corporation maintains a market capitalization of $24.49B, generates annual revenue of $3.50B, and employs a workforce of 9,100 individuals. These valuation and revenue figures indicate that Curtiss-Wright is a substantial entity within the industrial landscape, commanding a significant market presence that reflects its dominance in high-barrier-to-entry engineering niches. The substantial market cap relative to its revenue suggests that the market places a high premium on the company's intellectual property and recurring revenue streams derived from long-term contracts in defense and aerospace sectors.
Financial Health
The company reported revenue of $3.50B for the trailing twelve months, with net income reaching $484.23M and EBITDA totaling $796.36M. The gap between the $3.50B revenue and $484.23M net income reveals a cost structure where operating expenses and taxes consume approximately 86.2% of top-line sales, leaving a profit margin of 13.8%. Free cash flow stands at $465.74M, which signifies strong financial flexibility allowing the firm to fund capital expenditures, reduce leverage, or pursue strategic acquisitions without immediate external financing. The gross margin is recorded at 37.2%, indicating that the cost of goods sold consumes roughly 62.8% of revenue, a level consistent with complex manufacturing involving high-value materials. Operating margin sits at 20.3%, demonstrating that after covering all operating expenses, the company retains over one-fifth of its revenue as operating profit, while the profit margin of 13.8% confirms the final profitability after all obligations. On the balance sheet, total cash of $371.34M is compared against total debt of $1.17B, resulting in a debt-to-equity ratio of 46.10%. This leverage level suggests a moderately leveraged balance sheet where debt obligations exceed cash reserves, requiring consistent cash flow generation to meet interest and principal payments. The current ratio is 1.44, indicating that the company holds sufficient current assets to cover its current liabilities with a 44% buffer, which points to healthy short-term liquidity. Return on Equity is 19.4% and Return on Assets is 8.2%, metrics that reveal management is effectively utilizing shareholder equity to generate returns while maintaining a lower efficiency relative to total assets due to the capital-intensive nature of the business.
Valuation Assessment
The trailing twelve-month P/E ratio is 51.56, while the forward P/E is projected at 39.77. The difference between these two multiples implies that the market expects earnings growth to be significant enough to lower the valuation multiple over the coming year, as the forward multiple is substantially lower than the trailing one. The price-to-book ratio is 9.65, which indicates a substantial market premium over the company's net asset value, suggesting that investors value the firm's intangible assets, brand, and engineering capabilities far beyond their book cost. The price-to-sales ratio is 7.00, and the EV/EBITDA stands at 31.72, metrics that suggest the market is willing to pay a high multiple for sales and earnings relative to industry peers, reflecting confidence in the durability of its order book. The 52-week high is $730.12 and the 52-week low is $266.88, providing a trading range of $463.24. Without a specific current price provided in the facts, the position relative to this range cannot be calculated numerically, but the wide spread indicates significant volatility or a period of consolidation within the last year. The beta value is 0.91, which means the stock's price volatility is slightly less than the broader market, suggesting it behaves somewhat defensively relative to the overall market index during periods of fluctuation.
Growth & Income
Revenue growth year-over-year is 14.9%, while earnings growth year-over-year is 19.6%. Earnings are growing faster than revenue, which implies that the company is benefiting from operational leverage, likely through volume-based pricing power, cost efficiencies, or a shift toward higher-margin product mixes within its three segments. For dividend payers, the company offers a dividend yield of 0.1% with a payout ratio of 7.2%. This extremely low payout ratio suggests that the vast majority of earnings are retained rather than distributed to shareholders, indicating a strategy focused on reinvesting capital into research, development, and capacity expansion. Since the payout ratio is only 7.2%, the company is clearly prioritizing reinvestment of earnings into growth initiatives rather than paying out dividends to shareholders. The overall growth and income profile is characterized by double-digit earnings expansion supported by low dividend payouts, signaling a growth-oriented capital allocation strategy typical of industrial manufacturers in the aerospace sector.