Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) vs. GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) Financial Survey

GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE) and Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) are both large-cap industrials companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for GE Aerospace and Woodward, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GE Aerospace	1	3	16	0	2.75
Woodward	0	3	9	1	2.85

GE Aerospace currently has a consensus price target of $373.45, suggesting a potential upside of 18.84%. Woodward has a consensus price target of $413.82, suggesting a potential upside of 34.86%. Given Woodward’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Woodward is more favorable than GE Aerospace.

Dividends

GE Aerospace pays an annual dividend of $1.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Woodward pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. GE Aerospace pays out 21.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Woodward pays out 14.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. GE Aerospace has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years and Woodward has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares GE Aerospace and Woodward”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GE Aerospace	$52.58 billion	6.18	$8.70 billion	$8.67	36.25
Woodward	$3.57 billion	5.08	$442.11 million	$8.99	34.13

GE Aerospace has higher revenue and earnings than Woodward. Woodward is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than GE Aerospace, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Risk & Volatility

GE Aerospace has a beta of 1.43, meaning that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Woodward has a beta of 0.91, meaning that its stock price is 9% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares GE Aerospace and Woodward’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GE Aerospace	17.31%	44.43%	6.30%
Woodward	13.17%	21.89%	11.38%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

74.8% of GE Aerospace shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 81.2% of Woodward shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of GE Aerospace shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Woodward shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

About GE Aerospace

GE Aerospace (also known as General Electric) is a company that specializes in providing aerospace products and services. It operates through two reportable segments: Commercial Engines and Services and Defense and Propulsion Technologies. It offers jet and turboprop engines, as well as integrated systems for commercial, military, business, and general aviation aircraft. GE demerged into GE Vernova, GE Aerospace, and GE Healthcare.

About Woodward

Woodward, Inc. designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment provides fuel pumps, metering units, actuators, air valves, specialty valves, fuel nozzles, and thrust reverser actuation systems for turbine engines and nacelles, and flight deck controls, actuators, servocontrols, motors, and sensors for aircraft. These products are used on commercial and private aircraft and rotorcraft, as well as on military fixed-wing aircraft and rotorcraft, guided weapons, and other defense systems. It also provides aftermarket maintenance, repair and overhaul, and other services to commercial airlines, repair facilities, military depots, third party repair shops, and other end users. This segment sells its products to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), tier-one suppliers, and contractors, as well as through aftermarket sales of components, such as provisioning spares and replacements. The Industrial segment offers actuators, valves, pumps, fuel injection systems, solenoids, ignition systems, speed controls, electronics and software, and sensors. These products are used on industrial gas turbines, steam turbines, compressors, and reciprocating engines. This segment sells its aftermarket products, and other related services to OEMs through an independent network of distributors, as well as directly to end users. The company was founded in 1870 and is headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado.