Quality Investor

Curtiss-Wright Corporation

Rank #298Hypergrowth

CW · NYSE · Industrials

Curtiss-Wright Corporation (CW) — Rank #298 by gross profitability (GP/assets 0.24) · ROE 17.5% · Piotroski F-Score 8 / 9.

As-of 2026-09-15 · CIK 0000026324 · all metrics point-in-time as of the filing date.

About

Curtiss-Wright Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides engineered products, solutions, and services mainly to aerospace and defense, commercial nuclear power, process, and industrial markets worldwide.

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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.

Industry
Aerospace & Defense
Sector
Industrials
State
DE
Filer Category
Large accelerated filer
Fiscal Year End
December 31

Price History

CW+378.5% · +36.8% CAGRSPY+80.5% · +12.5% CAGR

Company Snapshot

P/S is the primary valuation lens — earnings are reinvested, not available for P/E.

Market Cap

$20.64B

P/E (annual)

43.4

P/S (annual)

5.9

P/B

7.4

P/OCF (annual)

32.1

Shareholder Yield

12.7%

Employees

9,200

Industry

Aerospace & Defense

Exchange

NYSE

Signal Flags

5 green1 yellow
Revenue growth acceleratingGrowth rate increasing year over year
Operating leverage expandingOperating income growing faster than revenue
Deferred revenue growingRevenue and deferred revenue both growing — retention signal
RPO outpacing revenueRemaining performance obligations growing faster than recognized revenue — forward demand building
Sequential beat (rev + EPS)Both revenue and EPS exceeded prior quarter — 2-quarter streak
Disclosure regressionA previously-disclosed line item is no longer reported — worth checking the filing for why

Quality Profile

Profitability

1/1 pass
GP / assets
0.24
Return on equity
17.5%
Gross margin trend
PASS

Safety

1/1 pass
Balance-sheet safety
PASS
Debt / equity
0.97
Current ratio
1.60×
Net cash
-$613.94M

Cash Flow

3/3 pass
Positive FCF
PASS
Cash-backed earnings
PASS
Accruals healthy
PASS
SBC / revenue
0.6%

Growth

2/2 pass
Revenue growth
40.6%
Piotroski F-Score
8 / 9
Share dilution
-12.5%

Terry Smith quality gate

Passes 1/5 Terry Smith thresholds

1 of 5 threshold not computable from filed data.

What Growth Is Priced In

Implied revenue growth (10Y)

16.4%

fairly valued

The annual FCF growth rate today's price requires over a 10-year horizon (discount rate 10%, terminal growth 2.5%).

Buyback tailwind: -12.5% — per-share value needs a total required return of 3.9% once share-count change is priced in.

vs. own 6-year median revenue growth: 5.1%

priced above its own history

Cost-of-equity sensitivity (implied growth at different discount rates)

r = 8%

11.6%

r = 10% (base)

16.4%

r = 12%

20.6%

Net debt / market cap: 2.9%

Base FCF: $553.7M3Y mean FCF: $282.7M

Valuation History

Current multiple vs historical range at each filing date. Band spans 25th-75th percentile.

P / E

Price / diluted EPS

23.4xExpensive
13.6xmed 17.4x29.9x

P / S

Price / revenue per share

2.0xFair
0.8xmed 2.1x2.7x

P / B

Price / book value per share

2.6xFair
1.3xmed 3.0x4.3x

P / GP

Price / gross profit per share

5.6xFair
2.6xmed 5.9x7.6x

P / FCF

Price / free cash flow per share

22.1xExpensive
14.9xmed 16.6x24.4x

Revenue growth and the path to profitability (margin trend) are the primary reads at this stage.

Profitability

Gross profitability (GP / assets)

0.24

Primary signal (Novy-Marx).

40th pctl of 36 SIC 35 peers

Return on equity

17.5%

Gross margin

37.2%

31st pctl of 36 SIC 35 peers

Revenue growth (YoY)

40.6%

RPO growth (YoY)

86.4%

Remaining performance obligations growth — RPO > revenue = forward demand building.

Gross margin improving

Margin trend vs prior year.

PASS

Operating Leverage

2017201820192020
Revenue vs COGS
Revenue vs OpEx
Op. Income vs Revenue

Growth

Revenue CAGR (3Y)

Revenue CAGR (5Y)

Earnings CAGR (3Y)

18.0%

FCF CAGR (3Y)

Anti-fragile safety

Balance-sheet safety

Composite anti-fragile check.

PASS

Debt / equity

0.97

37th pctl of 36 SIC 35 peers (best = lowest)

Current ratio

1.60×

20th pctl of 36 SIC 35 peers

Quick ratio

0.96×

Net cash

-$613.94M

Cash & equivalents minus total debt.

Cash-flow health

Free cash flow

$553.71M

Operating cash flow minus capex.

Positive free cash flow

PASS

FCF / net income

0.14

Cash-backing of earnings.

FCF/NI divergence

Unfavorable divergence (yellow flag).

PASS

Accruals healthy

Cash-backed earnings.

PASS

SBC / revenue

0.6%

Stock-based comp intensity.

Dividend safety

Composite score

3.8 / 5

Good
Payout ratio
7.2%5/5 Strong
FCF coverage
15.94×5/5 Strong
Dividend growth streak
5 yr3/5 Good
Balance-sheet health
D/E 0.97 · IC N/A2/5 Fair

Piotroski F-Score

F-Score

8 / 9

Fundamental-strength score (0-9).

Lifecycle Phase History

20122020
Capital Return
Value