Reviewing Woodward (WWD) & Its Peers

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) is one of 229 public companies in the “Aerospace & Defense” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Woodward to similar businesses based on the strength of its valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, risk and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

Woodward has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its share price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Woodward’s competitors have a beta of 1.31, meaning that their average share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Woodward and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Woodward	0	3	9	1	2.85
Woodward Competitors	2162	8279	12803	581	2.50

Woodward presently has a consensus target price of $413.82, suggesting a potential upside of 22.23%. As a group, “Aerospace & Defense” companies have a potential upside of 27.67%. Given Woodward’s competitors higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Woodward has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Dividends

Woodward pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Woodward pays out 14.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Aerospace & Defense” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.1% and pay out 38.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Woodward has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

81.2% of Woodward shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.5% of shares of all “Aerospace & Defense” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Woodward shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.8% of shares of all “Aerospace & Defense” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Woodward and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Woodward	$3.57 billion	$442.11 million	37.66
Woodward Competitors	$8.45 billion	$569.01 million	22.34

Woodward’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Woodward. Woodward is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Woodward and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Woodward	13.17%	21.89%	11.38%
Woodward Competitors	-347.37%	-49.10%	-4.38%

Summary

Woodward beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc. designs and manufactures control systems and components for the aerospace and industrial markets. Its products help manage the operation of aircraft engines, turbines, and other equipment used in power generation and industrial applications. In aerospace, Woodward supplies systems and components for commercial and military aircraft, helicopters, business aviation, and space applications. These include engine controls, fuel systems, actuation equipment, and components that regulate airflow and combustion.