Financial Comparison: Curtiss-Wright (NYSE:CW) and Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON)

Axon Enterprise (NASDAQ:AXON) and Curtiss-Wright (NYSE:CW) are both large-cap aerospace companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

79.1% of Axon Enterprise shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.7% of Curtiss-Wright shares are held by institutional investors. 4.4% of Axon Enterprise shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Curtiss-Wright shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Axon Enterprise has a beta of 1.45, indicating that its stock price is 45% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Curtiss-Wright has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Axon Enterprise and Curtiss-Wright”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Axon Enterprise	$2.56 billion	16.76	$377.03 million	$3.16	171.91
Curtiss-Wright	$3.38 billion	5.94	$404.98 million	$12.27	44.35

Curtiss-Wright has higher revenue and earnings than Axon Enterprise. Curtiss-Wright is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Axon Enterprise, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Axon Enterprise and Curtiss-Wright’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Axon Enterprise	13.64%	6.80%	3.18%
Curtiss-Wright	13.66%	18.34%	9.35%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Axon Enterprise and Curtiss-Wright, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Axon Enterprise	0	4	15	0	2.79
Curtiss-Wright	0	2	5	0	2.71

Axon Enterprise presently has a consensus target price of $814.00, suggesting a potential upside of 49.84%. Curtiss-Wright has a consensus target price of $562.83, suggesting a potential upside of 3.44%. Given Axon Enterprise’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Axon Enterprise is more favorable than Curtiss-Wright.

About Axon Enterprise

Axon Enterprise, Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells conducted energy devices (CEDs) under the TASER brand in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Software and Sensors, and TASER. The company also offers hardware and cloud-based software solutions that enable law enforcement to capture, securely store, manage, share, and analyze video and other digital evidence. Its products include axon officer safety plan; taser 10, taser7, taser X26P, taser X2, taser 7 CQ, and civilian series; cameras, such as axon body, axon flex, axon fleet, axon air, axon signal sidearm, axon signal vehicle, axon interview, and axon interview portable kit; software, including axon records, evidence, standards, commander, performance, auto-transcribe, justice, investigate, respond, and justice, my90, and redaction assistant; mobile applications, and training services, as well as hardware extended warranties; and Axon docks, cartridges, and batteries. The company sells its products through its direct sales, distribution partners, online store, and third-party resellers. Axon Enterprise, Inc. has a strategic partnership with Fusus, Inc. to expand bility to aggregate live video, data, and sensor feeds. It serves law enforcement, federal, correction, fire, EMS, campus, justice healthcare, retail, private security, and personal safety industries. The company was formerly known as TASER International, Inc. and changed its name to Axon Enterprise, Inc. in April 2017. Axon Enterprise, Inc. was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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.