One-glance verdict
Overvalued
$19.06 our estimate vs market $69.22
Wall Street consensus: $100.50 (427.3% higher than our fair-value estimate)
263% above our estimate, beyond the bull case
Fundamentals snapshot
Astronics Corporation
ATRO · NMS · Industrials · Aerospace & Defense
Current price
$69.22
52-week range
$33.12 - $94.46
Market cap
$2.98B
Balance sheet
Distressed
6.08x Adequate
Net debt $343.95M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
2 Risks
3 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 9.3% last year.
- Reward Returns 33.7% on equity, ahead of 75% of its peers.
- Risk Net debt grew 118.8% over 3 years.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 1.9% (peer median: 2.5%).
What this company does
Astronics Corporation
Astronics Corporation makes specialized electronic parts and systems for the aerospace and defense industries. The company earns most of its money selling products like in-seat power systems, cabin lighting, and safety equipment to airplane manufacturers and airlines. This means Astronics' business is closely tied to the health of the airline industry and the level of government defense spending.
How the company got here
Astronics was started in 1968 by an engineer named Thomas L. Robinson, Sr., who wanted to find new uses for a cool-to-the-touch lighting technology called electroluminescence. Early on, the company was small and focused on research, even getting a contract to make displays for NASA's Skylab space station. Over the years, Astronics grew by creating new products and buying other companies, expanding from just lighting to a wide range of electronics for airplanes. It has become a key supplier for major aircraft manufacturers and airlines around the world.
What it actually does
Think about the last time you were on an airplane; Astronics likely made many of the electronic parts you interacted with. They create the systems that provide in-seat power for your phone, the reading lights above your head, and even the emergency lighting that guides you in the dark. Beyond the cabin, they also manufacture critical systems that help the plane fly safely, like power generation and distribution systems. The company also produces highly specialized equipment used to test the electronics in aircraft and other complex machines to make sure everything works perfectly.
Aerospace
This is the largest part of Astronics' business, making up the vast majority of its sales. This segment designs and sells a wide variety of electronic components that go into new airplanes made by companies like Boeing and Airbus, as well as for military aircraft. Airlines also buy these products to upgrade their existing fleets, for things like adding USB ports to seats or installing new, more efficient lighting. Customers are typically large airframe manufacturers (companies that build the main body of the aircraft), their suppliers, and the airlines themselves.
Test Systems
This is the smaller of the company's two main businesses. It creates highly advanced automated testing equipment for companies in the aerospace, defense, and communications industries. Imagine a complex piece of military hardware with thousands of electronic parts; this segment builds the machines that can quickly and accurately test that hardware to ensure it's reliable and ready for its mission. Their customers are often government contractors and manufacturers of sophisticated electronics who need to guarantee their products work flawlessly.
What management is betting on now
The company's leadership is focused on turning its record-high backlog (the total value of confirmed customer orders that have not yet been fulfilled) into actual sales and profits. They are working to improve their operational execution (the process of efficiently producing and delivering their products) to meet the strong demand from commercial airlines. A key part of their strategy is capitalizing on the trend of airlines upgrading their planes with more in-seat power and better connectivity for passengers. Management is also focused on increasing its margins (the amount of profit made on each dollar of sales) through higher sales volumes and being more productive.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Loading price history…
Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q4
$23.23M
FY2025 Q1
$18.54M
FY2025 Q2
$-12.24M
FY2025 Q3
$21.01M
FY2025 Q4
$15.81M
FY2026 Q2
$-554.00K
FY2026 Q3
$24.41M
Revenue
$259.96M
Net income
$35.06M
Diluted EPS
0.75
Operating cash flow
$30.12M
Free cash flow
$24.41M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$230.62M
Net income
$25.54M
Diluted EPS
0.67
Operating cash flow
$10.61M
Free cash flow
$-554.00K
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$240.07M
Net income
$29.61M
Diluted EPS
0.78
Operating cash flow
$27.62M
Free cash flow
$15.81M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$211.45M
Net income
$-11.10M
Diluted EPS
-0.31
Operating cash flow
$34.16M
Free cash flow
$21.01M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$204.68M
Net income
$1.31M
Diluted EPS
0.04
Operating cash flow
$-7.63M
Free cash flow
$-12.24M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$205.94M
Net income
$9.53M
Diluted EPS
0.26
Operating cash flow
$20.64M
Free cash flow
$18.54M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$208.54M
Net income
$-2.83M
Diluted EPS
-0.08
Operating cash flow
$26.42M
Free cash flow
$23.23M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $19.06 vs current price $69.22
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $100.50 (427.3% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $19.06 a share — about 72.5% below today's price of $69.22, so the stock currently looks expensive (overvalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Distressed
Net debt $344.0M. Interest coverage 6.1x.
Net debt
$343.95M
Interest coverage
6.08x
Astronics Corporation's profit covers its interest bill about 6.1 times over. which is stronger than every peer shown here.
Distressed
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
ATRO
BASELINE
Astronics Corporation
Total debt $352.97M Interest coverage 6.08x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $334.79M Interest coverage 5.82x -4% vs ATRO Has roughly the same debt cushion as ATRO.
Total debt $1.01B Interest coverage 3.75x -38% vs ATRO Carries about 1.6x less debt cushion than ATRO.
Total debt $193.60M Interest coverage 2.89x -53% vs ATRO Carries about 2.1x less debt cushion than ATRO.
What you should know
The case for and against ATRO
3 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 9.3% last year.
-
Returns 33.7% on equity, ahead of 75% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 7/10 years.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 118.8% over 3 years.
-
Insider ownership is only 1.9% (peer median: 2.5%).
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
37.83x
Forward P/E
21.99x
P/B
15.02x
P/S
3.16x
EV/EBITDA
22.32x
PEG ratio
1.45x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
32.3%
Operating margin
14.8%
Net margin
8.4%
ROE
33.7%
ROA
11.2%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
1.78x
Current ratio
2.97x
Quick ratio
1.46x
Total debt
$352.97M
Total cash
$9.02M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$942.09M
Revenue 5Y CAGR
18.0%
EPS TTM
1.83
EPS 5Y CAGR
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Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$102.51M
Free CF TTM
$43.12M
FCF margin
4.6%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
—
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
1994-01-25