Aerospace and defense company Curtiss-Wright (NYSE: CW) reported Q4 CY2025 results beating Wall Street’s revenue expectations, with sales up 14.9% year on year to $947 million. The company’s full-year revenue guidance of $3.74 billion at the midpoint came in 1.2% above analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $3.79 per share was 2.8% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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"Curtiss-Wright's full-year 2025 performance reflected the continued momentum that we are generating under our Pivot to Growth strategy. We remain well positioned to deliver another strong operational performance in 2026," said Lynn M. Bamford, Chair & CEO

Company Overview

Formed from a merger of 12 companies, Curtiss-Wright (NYSE: CW) provides a range of products and services to the aerospace, industrial, electronic, and maritime industries.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Luckily, Curtiss-Wright’s sales grew at a decent 8.8% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. Its growth was slightly above the average industrials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss cycles, industry trends, or a company capitalizing on catalysts such as a new contract win or a successful product line. Curtiss-Wright’s annualized revenue growth of 10.9% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting its demand recently accelerated.

We can dig further into the company’s revenue dynamics by analyzing its most important segments, Product and Services, which are 85.8% and 14.2% of revenue. Over the last two years, Curtiss-Wright’s Product revenue (aerospace & defense technology) averaged 11.8% year-on-year growth while its Services revenue (testing, maintenance, consulting) averaged 7.1% growth.

This quarter, Curtiss-Wright reported year-on-year revenue growth of 14.9%, and its $947 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 6.4%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 5.7% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last two years. This projection doesn't excite us and implies its products and services will see some demand headwinds. At least the company is tracking well in other measures of financial health.

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Operating Margin

Operating margin is one of the best measures of profitability because it tells us how much money a company takes home after procuring and manufacturing its products, marketing and selling those products, and most importantly, keeping them relevant through research and development.

Curtiss-Wright has been a well-oiled machine over the last five years. It demonstrated elite profitability for an industrials business, boasting an average operating margin of 16.9%.

Looking at the trend in its profitability, Curtiss-Wright’s operating margin rose by 2.6 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage.

This quarter, Curtiss-Wright generated an operating margin profit margin of 19.2%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.

Earnings Per Share

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Curtiss-Wright’s EPS grew at a remarkable 14% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 8.8% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

We can take a deeper look into Curtiss-Wright’s earnings to better understand the drivers of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Curtiss-Wright’s operating margin was flat this quarter but expanded by 2.6 percentage points over the last five years. On top of that, its share count shrank by 10.3%. These are positive signs for shareholders because improving profitability and share buybacks turbocharge EPS growth relative to revenue growth.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For Curtiss-Wright, its two-year annual EPS growth of 18.8% was higher than its five-year trend. We love it when earnings growth accelerates, especially when it accelerates off an already high base.

In Q4, Curtiss-Wright reported adjusted EPS of $3.79, up from $3.27 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 2.8%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Curtiss-Wright’s full-year EPS of $13.24 to grow 9.7%.

Key Takeaways from Curtiss-Wright’s Q4 Results

We were impressed by how significantly Curtiss-Wright blew past analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its full-year EPS guidance exceeded Wall Street’s estimates. Zooming out, we think this quarter featured some important positives. The stock traded up 3.1% to $654.50 immediately following the results.

Curtiss-Wright may have had a good quarter, but does that mean you should invest right now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).