BWX (NYSE:BWXT) Delivers Impressive Q4 CY2025, Stock Soars

Aerospace and defense company BWX (NYSE:BWXT) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 18.7% year on year to $885.8 million. Its non-GAAP profit of $1.08 per share was 22.2% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy BWX? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.

“We delivered a strong fourth quarter, and a record year for BWXT,” said Rex D. Geveden, president and chief executive officer.

Company Overview

Contributing components and materials to the famous Manhattan Project in the 1940s, BWX (NYSE:BWXT) is a manufacturer and service provider of nuclear components and fuel for government and commercial industries.

Revenue Growth

Reviewing a company’s long-term sales performance reveals insights into its quality. Any business can have short-term success, but a top-tier one grows for years. Over the last five years, BWX grew its sales at a decent 8.5% compounded annual growth rate. Its growth was slightly above the average industrials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss new industry trends or demand cycles. BWX’s annualized revenue growth of 13.2% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting its demand recently accelerated.

BWX also reports its backlog, or the value of its outstanding orders that have not yet been executed or delivered. BWX’s backlog reached $7.26 billion in the latest quarter and averaged 49.9% year-on-year growth over the last two years. Because this number is better than its revenue growth, we can see the company accumulated more orders than it could fulfill and deferred revenue to the future. This could imply elevated demand for BWX’s products and services but raises concerns about capacity constraints.

This quarter, BWX reported year-on-year revenue growth of 18.7%, and its $885.8 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 5.3%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 14.5% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection is healthy and implies its newer products and services will catalyze better top-line performance.

Microsoft, Alphabet, Coca-Cola, Monster Beverage—all began as under-the-radar growth stories riding a massive trend. We’ve identified the next one: a profitable AI semiconductor play Wall Street is still overlooking. Go here for access to our full report.

Operating Margin

Operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses – everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It’s also useful for comparing profitability across companies with different levels of debt and tax rates because it excludes interest and taxes.

BWX has been an efficient company over the last five years. It was one of the more profitable businesses in the industrials sector, boasting an average operating margin of 14.6%.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, BWX’s operating margin decreased by 3.6 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.

This quarter, BWX generated an operating margin profit margin of 10.4%, down 2 percentage points year on year. This reduction is quite minuscule and indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

BWX’s EPS grew at an unimpressive 5.8% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, lower than its 8.5% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded due to non-fundamental factors such as interest expenses and taxes.

We can take a deeper look into BWX’s earnings to better understand the drivers of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, BWX’s operating margin declined by 3.6 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a more recent period because it can provide insight into an emerging theme or development for the business.

For BWX, its two-year annual EPS growth of 15% was higher than its five-year trend. This acceleration made it one of the faster-growing industrials companies in recent history.

In Q4, BWX reported adjusted EPS of $1.08, up from $0.92 in the same quarter last year. This print easily cleared analysts’ estimates, and shareholders should be content with the results. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects BWX’s full-year EPS of $4.01 to grow 6.3%.

Key Takeaways from BWX’s Q4 Results

We were impressed by how significantly BWX blew past analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its EPS outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Zooming out, we think this was a solid print. The stock traded up 5.2% to $208.89 immediately following the results.

Sure, BWX had a solid quarter, but if we look at the bigger picture, is this stock a buy? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).