HWM
Howmet’s quarter came in hot
Howmet Aerospace basically showed up to earnings with a cape on. First-quarter revenue jumped 19% year over year to $2.313 billion, adjusted EPS climbed 42% to $1.22, and both numbers beat Wall Street expectations. The company even said it cleared the high end of its own guidance, which is the corporate version of saying, “yeah, we crushed it.”
The airplane engine machine is humming
The real story here is aerospace demand. Commercial aerospace revenue rose 20%, defense grew 10%, and gas turbines surged 39%. CEO John Plant said airlines and engine makers are still pushing for higher production rates, backed by record backlogs — but he also flagged one possible fly in the ointment: the Iranian conflict could affect engine spares demand.
More cash, more deals, more buybacks
Margins kept expanding too, with operating margin hitting 32.6% and free cash flow jumping 168% to $359 million. Howmet also completed its roughly $1.8 billion acquisition of Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing, sold its Savannah disk forging facility for about $230 million, and bought back $300 million of stock during the quarter. In other words: more growth, more discipline, and fewer idle dollars sitting around.
Management is talking big — and the numbers back it up
The company lifted full-year 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $4.88 to $5.00 from $4.35 to $4.55, and revenue guidance to $9.575 billion to $9.725 billion from $9.0 billion to $9.2 billion. It also guided Q2 above analyst estimates. The stock was up 8.37% to a new 52-week high, which is the market’s way of saying, “keep going, we’re listening.”
Big picture: Howmet’s business is riding the aerospace boom, and for now, demand is doing enough heavy lifting to offset geopolitical noise.