Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE:CW) makes engineered parts and systems for defense, commercial aerospace and nuclear power customers. Curtiss-Wright is one of the 10 best stocks to buy according to billionaire Mario Gabelli’s fund. Guggenheim started coverage with a Buy rating in September. See why Guggenheim sees 41% upside.
The stock is down about 11% this year.
Curtiss-Wright has a sticky business because its parts sit inside fleets and reactors that run for decades, so customers keep buying upgrades, spares and service. The company sells mission computers, actuators, submarine equipment and reactor coolant pumps, and it does not depend on one program or one customer. Defense modernization, naval shipbuilding and new nuclear power plants give it years of demand to draw on. Orders grew 8% in the second quarter and ran ahead of sales, and the backlog is up 10% since December. Management raised its 2026 guidance to 8% to 9% sales growth and 14% to 16% earnings per share growth. See our list of the 10 best performing defense stocks so far in 2026.
What Could Go Wrong
Curtiss-Wright will have a new CEO in January. New leaders can change how the company spends money and how it talks to investors. Defense work also moves slowly, and programs get delayed, budgets shift and shipments slip from one quarter to the next, as Defense Electronics showed in the second quarter. Higher interest rates hurt expensive stocks, and Curtiss-Wright is still priced like a growth company. Third-quarter results come on November 4.
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Is the Stock Cheap?
Curtiss-Wright trades at about 33 times 2026 earnings and about 30 times 2027 earnings. Curtiss-Wright’s own five-year average is 28.6. Analyst consensus has earnings per share growing 15.6% in 2026 and 12.1% in 2027, and company guidance for 2026 is 14% to 16%. The market’s earnings grow about 10% a year over the long run, so Curtiss-Wright grows a little faster than the market at a much higher multiple. If earnings grow 12% a year, the P/E of 33 falls to about 26 in two years and about 24 in three.
Buyers at this price are betting that the backlog turns into 12% or better earnings growth for several years, and that the new CEO and CFO keep the margin gains going. If growth slows toward the market’s 10%, the multiple looks too high. TimesSquare Capital’s U.S. Mid Cap Growth Strategy said shares of Curtiss-Wright Corporation rose 24% in the first quarter. See what TimesSquare said.
While we acknowledge the risk and potential of CW as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CW and that has 10,000% upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.
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