Aerospace and defense company BWX (NYSE:BWXT) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow after market hours. Here’s what to look for.

BWX beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 2.2% last quarter, reporting revenues of $672 million, up 13.9% year on year. It was a strong quarter for the company, with full-year revenue guidance beating analysts’ expectations.

Is BWX a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.

This quarter, analysts are expecting BWX’s revenue to be flat year on year at $728.6 million, slowing from the 16.2% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $0.81 per share.

Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. BWX has only missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates once over the last two years, exceeding top-line expectations by 3.7% on average.

Looking at BWX’s peers in the defense contractors segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Mercury Systems delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 13%, beating analysts’ expectations by 23.9%, and Leonardo DRS reported revenues up 5.9%, topping estimates by 4.9%. Mercury Systems traded up 18.3% following the results while Leonardo DRS was down 2.4%.

Read our full analysis of Mercury Systems’s results here and Leonardo DRS’s results here.

Inflation has progressed towards the Fed’s 2% goal as of late, leading to strong stock market performance. Recent rate cuts and the 2024 Presidential election's conclusion added further sparks to the market, and while some of the defense contractors stocks have shown solid performance, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 6.2% on average over the last month. BWX is down 7.3% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $139 (compared to the current share price of $103.36).

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