Want to see WWD full AI Analyst Report?
Top Page
Woodward
(NASDAQ:WWD)
Select Model
Select Model
Rating:70Outperform
Price Target:
$358.00
▲(3.37% Upside)
Action:Upgraded
Date:09/22/26
The score is driven primarily by strong financial performance and a very constructive earnings update with raised FY2026 guidance and margin expansion. Offsetting these positives are weak technicals (price below key moving averages with negative MACD) and a relatively rich valuation (P/E ~35) with a low dividend yield, while corporate events add some near-term execution/cost risk.
Positive Factors
Sustained growth and margin expansion
Woodward has combined multi-year revenue expansion with a meaningful improvement in profitability, indicating stronger operating leverage and execution. The higher net and EBITDA margins provide more internal funding for investment, support resilience across aerospace and industrial cycles, and strengthen future earnings durability.
Negative Factors
Cash conversion has softened
Although Woodward generates substantial cash, recent conversion trends are less supportive than its earnings growth. Higher working-capital needs and weaker obligation coverage can constrain internally funded investment, reduce flexibility during demand fluctuations, and make future cash generation more dependent on improved collections and inventory management.
Read all positive and negative factors
Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Sustained growth and margin expansion
Woodward has combined multi-year revenue expansion with a meaningful improvement in profitability, indicating stronger operating leverage and execution. The higher net and EBITDA margins provide more internal funding for investment, support resilience across aerospace and industrial cycles, and strengthen future earnings durability.
Read all positive factors
Woodward (WWD) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$19.81B
Dividend Yield0.37%
Average Volume (3M)715.61K
Price to Earnings (P/E)36.3
Beta (1Y)1.14
Revenue Growth22.35%
EPS Growth41.77%
CountryUS
Employees10,200
SectorIndustrials
Sector Strength72
IndustryAerospace & Defense
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)9.25
Shares Outstanding59,045,820
10 Day Avg. Volume700,834
30 Day Avg. Volume715,605
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio1.75
Price to Book (P/B)5.87
Price to Sales (P/S)4.22
P/FCF Ratio44.22
Enterprise Value/Market Cap1.36
Enterprise Value/Revenue6.41
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit21.73
Enterprise Value/Ebitda31.31
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$430.00Price Target Upside24.16% Upside
Rating ConsensusStrong Buy
Number of Analyst Covering11
EPS Forecast (FY)10.72
Revenue Forecast (FY)$4.71B
Woodward Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Woodward, Inc. (WWD) stands as a prominent global entity, specializing in the engineering, production, and maintenance of advanced control solutions for both the aerospace and industrial sectors. The company organizes its operations into two disti...
How the Company Makes Money
Woodward makes money by selling engineered components and control systems and by providing aftermarket parts and services tied to its installed base. Revenue is primarily generated through two operating segments: (1) Aerospace: Sales of fuel syste...
Woodward Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Jul 29, 2026
(Q3-2026)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Nov 12, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call reflected a robust quarter with strong revenue growth (21% YoY), significant adjusted EPS improvement (~43%), meaningful margin expansion in both Aerospace and Industrial, raised full-year guidance, solid free cash flow performance year-to-date, and active capital return and strategic capacity initiatives. Headwinds include working capital build (higher inventory and AR) that constrained free cash flow upside, non-recurring items (one-time pricing and revenue recognition impacts) that affect comparability, supply-chain fragilities (castings/forgings/rare earths) and a winding down of the China on-highway business. Management emphasized continued productivity gains, automation, and disciplined capital allocation to support sustained margin expansion. Overall, the positives materially outweigh the negatives.Positive Updates
Strong Top-Line Growth
Net sales of $1.1 billion in Q3, up 21% year-over-year, driven by increased output across Aerospace and Industrial segments.
Negative Updates
One-Time and Non-Recurring Items Affecting Comparability
Aerospace margins benefited from a one-time retroactive pricing adjustment that contributed ~100 basis points in Q3; a defense OEM revenue recognition adjustment reduced reported Defense OEM sales by 6% (would have been mid-single-digit growth excluding the item). These items complicate clean trend interpretation.
Read all updates
Q3-2026 Updates
Positive
Negative
Strong Top-Line Growth
Net sales of $1.1 billion in Q3, up 21% year-over-year, driven by increased output across Aerospace and Industrial segments.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Woodward raised its FY2026 outlook, now targeting adjusted EPS of $9.30–$9.50 and an adjusted effective tax rate of ~22.5%; segment guidance calls for Aerospace sales growth of 21–23% with margins of ~23.5% and Industrial sales growth of 19–21% with margins of ~19%. Management reiterated a ~$290M capex plan (YTD capex $156M with a meaningful step-up expected in Q4), YTD free cash flow of $196M (Q3 FCF $87M), debt leverage of 1.6x EBITDA (6/30/26), and plans to return ~ $700M to shareholders (YTD returned $608M); they also noted price realization running ~10% in Q3 and guiding near ~8% for the year.Woodward Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
84
Very Positive
Balance Sheet
78
Positive
Cash Flow
74
Positive
| Breakdown | TTM | Sep 2025 | Sep 2024 | Sep 2023 | Sep 2022 | Sep 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 4.19B | 3.57B | 3.32B | 2.91B | 2.38B | 2.25B |
| Gross Profit | 1.24B | 956.29M | 876.48M | 677.58M | 525.30M | 551.06M |
| EBITDA | 857.47M | 680.38M | 618.10M | 443.41M | 355.07M | 409.61M |
| Net Income | 552.03M | 442.11M | 372.97M | 232.37M | 171.70M | 208.65M |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 5.20B | 4.63B | 4.37B | 4.01B | 3.81B | 4.09B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 474.85M | 327.43M | 282.27M | 137.45M | 107.84M | 448.46M |
| Total Debt | 1.36B | 722.40M | 895.14M | 748.67M | 798.86M | 749.62M |
| Total Liabilities | 2.72B | 2.06B | 2.19B | 1.94B | 1.91B | 1.88B |
| Stockholders Equity | 2.47B | 2.57B | 2.18B | 2.07B | 1.90B | 2.21B |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 376.53M | 340.37M | 342.81M | 229.81M | 140.77M | 426.98M |
| Operating Cash Flow | 585.25M | 471.29M | 439.09M | 306.31M | 193.64M | 464.67M |
| Investing Cash Flow | -378.83M | -119.55M | -89.22M | -73.55M | -65.45M | -35.30M |
| Financing Cash Flow | -199.03M | -313.93M | -218.05M | -194.24M | -442.38M | -136.32M |
Woodward Technical Analysis
Neutral
346.34
Price Trends
340.94
Negative
366.75
Negative
363.98
Negative
Market Momentum
-2.81
Negative
49.31
Neutral
47.89
Neutral
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For WWD, the sentiment is Neutral. The current price of 346.34 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 327.32, above the 50-day MA of 340.94, and below the 200-day MA of 363.98, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of -2.81 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 49.31 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 47.89 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Neutral sentiment for WWD.
Woodward Risk Analysis
Woodward disclosed 29 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Woodward reported the most risks in the "Production" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
Woodward Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (63)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
77 Outperform | $11.52B | 30.49 | 18.00% | 0.33% | 15.65% | 78.52% | |
74 Outperform | $35.33B | 49.06 | 18.30% | 0.05% | 20.69% | 31.56% | |
70 Outperform | $19.81B | 36.27 | 21.75% | 0.37% | 22.35% | 41.77% | |
67 Neutral | $18.93B | 35.09 | 20.69% | 0.20% | 10.54% | 22.56% | |
66 Neutral | $61.25B | 33.62 | -22.31% | 12.64% | 16.64% | 9.48% | |
64 Neutral | $50.06B | 66.64 | -16.21% | ― | ― | ― | |
63 Neutral | $10.79B | 15.43 | 7.44% | 2.01% | 2.89% | -14.66% |
* Industrials Sector Average
WWD
Woodward
332.56
79.98
31.67%
CW
Curtiss-Wright
504.16
-45.76
-8.32%
HEI
HEICO
297.09
-14.04
-4.51%
MOG.A
Moog
371.76
166.14
80.80%
TDG
Transdigm Group
1,119.94
-173.14
-13.39%
HONA
Honeywell Aerospace
157.27
-42.73
-21.36%
Woodward Corporate Events
Business Operations and StrategyM&A Transactions
Woodward Streamlines Aerospace Footprint with Facility Transition
Negative
Sep 21, 2026
On September 15, 2026, Woodward’s board approved a plan to transition aerospace controls production out of its Santa Clarita, California facility as part of a portfolio streamlining and manufacturing footprint refinement. Military fixed̴...
Business Operations and StrategyDividends
Woodward Board Approves Quarterly Dividend, Signaling Stability
Positive
Sep 16, 2026
On September 15, 2026, Woodward’s Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.32 per share, reinforcing the company’s ongoing capital return to shareholders. The dividend is payable on December 3, 2026, to stockholders ...
Business Operations and StrategyPrivate Placements and Financing
Woodward Privately Places $450 Million Senior Unsecured Notes
Positive
Aug 21, 2026
On August 19, 2026, Woodward, Inc. entered into a Note Purchase Agreement to privately place $450 million of senior unsecured notes, split evenly among Series U notes due 2029, Series V notes due 2030, and Series W notes due 2033, with coupons sta...
Business Operations and StrategyDividends
Woodward Declares Quarterly Cash Dividend, Signals Ongoing Confidence
Positive
Jun 25, 2026
On June 24, 2026, Woodward, Inc.’s board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.32 per share, underscoring the company’s ongoing capital return program to shareholders. The dividend is scheduled to be paid on September 3...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.