Curtiss-Wright (NYSE:CW – Get Free Report) and Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB – Get Free Report) are both large-cap aerospace companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends and risk.
Insider & Institutional Ownership
82.7% of Curtiss-Wright shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.8% of Rocket Lab shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Curtiss-Wright shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of Rocket Lab shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a summary of current ratings for Curtiss-Wright and Rocket Lab, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score | |
| Curtiss-Wright | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 2.57 |
| Rocket Lab | 1 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 2.67 |
Volatility and Risk
Curtiss-Wright has a beta of 0.95, meaning that its stock price is 5% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Rocket Lab has a beta of 2.16, meaning that its stock price is 116% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Profitability
This table compares Curtiss-Wright and Rocket Lab’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets | |
| Curtiss-Wright | 13.78% | 18.82% | 9.53% |
| Rocket Lab | -35.64% | -27.26% | -12.21% |
Earnings and Valuation
This table compares Curtiss-Wright and Rocket Lab”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio | |
| Curtiss-Wright | $3.12 billion | 7.16 | $404.98 million | $12.27 | 49.40 |
| Rocket Lab | $436.21 million | 103.90 | -$190.18 million | ($0.38) | -223.29 |
Curtiss-Wright has higher revenue and earnings than Rocket Lab. Rocket Lab is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Curtiss-Wright, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Curtiss-Wright beats Rocket Lab on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.
About Curtiss-Wright
Curtiss-Wright Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, provides engineered products, solutions, and services mainly to aerospace and defense, commercial power, process, and industrial markets worldwide. 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.
About Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab USA, Inc., a space company, provides launch services and space systems solutions for the space and defense industries. The company provides launch services, spacecraft design services, spacecraft components, spacecraft manufacturing, and other spacecraft and on-orbit management solutions; and constellation management services, as well as designs and manufactures small and medium-class rockets. It also designs, manufactures, and sells Electron, a reusable orbital-class small rocket; and the Photon satellite platforms, as well as developing the Neutron 8-ton payload class launch vehicle; conducts remote launch activities; and designs and manufactures a range of components and subsystems for the Photon family of spacecraft and broader merchant spacecraft components. The company serves commercial, aerospace prime contractors, and government customers. Rocket Lab USA, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Long Beach, California.
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