Curtiss-Wright (NYSE:CW) & BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT) Financial Comparison

Curtiss-Wright (NYSE:CW) and BWX Technologies (NYSE:BWXT) are both large-cap aerospace companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, risk, profitability and dividends.

Volatility and Risk

Curtiss-Wright has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BWX Technologies has a beta of 0.78, meaning that its share price is 22% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Curtiss-Wright pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. BWX Technologies pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Curtiss-Wright pays out 8.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. BWX Technologies pays out 31.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Curtiss-Wright has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years and BWX Technologies has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Curtiss-Wright and BWX Technologies”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Curtiss-Wright	$3.31 billion	6.30	$404.98 million	$11.85	46.63
BWX Technologies	$2.86 billion	6.55	$281.94 million	$3.20	64.14

Curtiss-Wright has higher revenue and earnings than BWX Technologies. Curtiss-Wright is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BWX Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Curtiss-Wright and BWX Technologies, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Curtiss-Wright	0	2	6	0	2.75
BWX Technologies	1	4	6	3	2.79

Curtiss-Wright presently has a consensus price target of $526.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.82%. BWX Technologies has a consensus price target of $168.08, indicating a potential downside of 18.11%. Given Curtiss-Wright’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Curtiss-Wright is more favorable than BWX Technologies.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

82.7% of Curtiss-Wright shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.4% of BWX Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.6% of Curtiss-Wright shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of BWX Technologies shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Curtiss-Wright and BWX Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Curtiss-Wright	13.66%	18.34%	9.35%
BWX Technologies	10.28%	30.61%	10.77%

Summary

Curtiss-Wright beats BWX Technologies on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Curtiss-Wright

Curtiss-Wright Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides engineered products, solutions, and services mainly to aerospace and defense, commercial power, process, and industrial markets worldwide. It operates through three segments: Aerospace & Industrial, Defense Electronics, and Naval & Power. The Aerospace & Industrial segment offers industrial and specialty vehicle products, such as power management electronics, traction inverters, transmission shifters, and control systems; sensors, controls, and electro-mechanical actuation components used on commercial and military aircraft; and surface technology services including shot peening, laser peening, and engineered coatings. The Defense Electronics segment provides commercial off-the-shelf embedded computing board-level modules and processing equipment, data acquisition and flight test instrumentation equipment, integrated subsystems, instrumentation and control systems, tactical communications solutions; and electronic stabilization products, and weapons handling systems; avionics and electronics; flight test equipment; and aircraft data management solutions. The Naval & Power segment offers main coolant pumps, power-dense compact motors, generators, steam turbines, valves, and secondary propulsion systems; energy absorbers, retractable hook cable systems, net-stanchion systems and mobile systems to support fixed land-based arresting systems; hardware, valves, fastening systems, specialized containment doors, airlock hatches, and spent fuel management products; reactor coolant pumps and control rod drive mechanisms for commercial nuclear power plants, as well as various nuclear reactor technologies. This segment furnishes severe-service valve technologies and services, heat exchanger repair, and piping test and isolation products, and offers ship repair and maintenance for the U.S. navy. Curtiss-Wright Corporation was incorporated in 1929 and is headquartered in Davidson, North Carolina.

About BWX Technologies

BWX Technologies, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells nuclear components in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Government Operations and Commercial Operations. The Government Operations segment designs and manufactures naval nuclear components, reactors, and nuclear fuel; fabrication activities; and supplies proprietary and sole-source valves, manifolds, and fittings to naval and commercial shipping customers. This segment also involved in manufacture of close-tolerance and equipment for nuclear applications; down blend government stockpiles of uranium; receives, stores, characterizes, dissolves, recovers, and purifies uranium-bearing materials; and supplies research reactor fuel elements for colleges, universities, and national laboratories, as well as components for defense applications. The Commercial Operations segment designs and manufactures commercial nuclear steam generators, heat exchangers, pressure vessels, and reactor components; and other auxiliary equipment, including containers for the storage of nuclear fuel and other high-level nuclear waste. This segment also offers nuclear fuel, fuel handling systems, tooling delivery systems, nuclear grade materials, and precisely machined components, and related services for CANDU nuclear power plants; provides in-plant inspection, maintenance, and modification services, as well as non-destructive examination and tooling/repair solutions; and manufactures medical radioisotopes, radiopharmaceuticals, and medical devices. The company was formerly known as The Babcock & Wilcox Company and changed its name to BWX Technologies, Inc. in June 2015. BWX Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia.