Curtiss-Wright Boosts Share Buyback Authorization to $550 Million

Curtiss-Wright Corporation (CW) announced that its board of directors approved an additional $416 million for future share repurchases, bringing the total buyback authorization to $550 million.

Since August, the company has completed two separate $200 million expansions of its 2025 share repurchase program and expects to repurchase at least $66 million in shares this year through ongoing 10b5-1 plans. This positions CW for a record $466 million in annual share buybacks in 2025.

Since early 2021, Curtiss-Wright has returned more than $1.1 billion to shareholders through repurchases. Beginning in January 2026, it plans to repurchase $60 million in shares under a 10b5-1 program.

Curtiss-Wright Enhances Shareholder Value

Curtiss-Wright’s focus on enhancing shareholder value is supported by a disciplined, balanced capital allocation strategy and strengthened by its ability to deploy capital effectively.

The company remains committed to expanding its business through strategic acquisitions. Improving end-market conditions and rising demand for Curtiss-Wright’s high-quality products are expected to drive continued profitability, providing additional opportunities to enhance shareholder value in future periods.

Curtiss-Wright’s management continues to increase shareholder value by repurchasing shares. In the first nine months of 2025, the company repurchased shares worth $325.1 million.

Such a consistent return strategy is supported by the company’s ability to generate robust revenues and free cash flow. Curtiss-Wright expects total sales to grow 10-11% and earnings to increase 19-21% in 2025. The company also projects free cash flow in the range of $520-$535 million for the year.

A strong cash distribution strategy typically signals a company’s consistent ability to generate reliable operating cash flows. In the first nine months of 2025, CW generated $290.7 million in cash flow from operating activities, which likely supported its decision to approve the latest increase in its share repurchase authorization.

Prospects for Other Defense Stocks

Here are some defense companies that have been rewarding shareholders with impressive share repurchase programs.

Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT): In October 2025, the board of directors approved a $2 billion increase to the company’s share repurchase program, bringing the total authorization under the current program to $9.1 billion. During the first nine months of 2025, LMT repurchased 5 million shares of common stock for $2.3 billion.

LMT boasts a long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate of 12.35%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 sales stands at $74.40 billion, which calls for an increase of 4.7%.

Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC): On Dec. 11, 2024, the company’s board of directors authorized a new share repurchase program of up to an additional $3 billion in share repurchases (the “2024 Repurchase Program”). As of Sept. 30, 2025, the company repurchased under the 2024 Repurchase Program totaled $8 million.

NOC has a long-term earnings growth rate of 4.16%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 sales stands at $41.89 billion, which implies a jump of 2.1%.

General Dynamics Corp. (GD): In the first nine months of 2025, the company repurchased 2.4 million outstanding shares for $600 million.

GD has a long-term earnings growth rate of 12.81%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 sales stands at $51.97 billion, which indicates a rise of 8.9%.

CW Stock Price Movement

In the past six months, shares of Curtiss-Wright have risen 27.5% compared with the industry‘s average return of 7.2%.

CW’s Zacks Rank

Curtiss-Wright currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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