Buffett Brain · Research note
Score updated 29 Oct 2026 · analysis from 18 May 2026
BWXT· Industrials
BWX Technologies
BWX Technologies makes naval nuclear reactors with monopolistic positioning, but 54.4x P/E and 62.7x EV/EBIT push speculation territory.
Buffett fit
Partial fit
Owner
27
Durability
72
Management
67
Price
55
Score updated 29 Oct 2026 · analysis from 18 May 2026
Buffett's checklist
Each number against Buffett's bar, and where it ranks among Industrials stocks in our database.
How much profit the business makes on each dollar invested in it. Higher is better.
What is left of each sale after the cost of making the product. A high number often means pricing power.
The cash the business earns for its owners, compared with the price of the whole company.
How fast sales grew each year over the last five years.
How many years of today's profit you pay for at today's price. Lower means cheaper.
How much the company owes compared with what it owns outright. Lower is safer.
The four pillars
How the business measures up on each of Buffett's four tests.
Owning BWXT for a decade is essentially owning a slice of the US submarine industrial base.
The full reasoning comes with a free account.
The naval-nuclear monopoly is genuinely durable so long as the US maintains its submarine fleet.
The full reasoning comes with a free account.
Share count -0.7% annually is shareholder-friendly, but debt/equity of 1.58x and net debt/EBITDA of 2.77x mean is being used to fund the growth bets.
The full reasoning comes with a free account.
At 54.4x , 62.7x EV/, and a 1.6% owner-earnings yield, the market is pricing in microreactor and isotope optionality that has not yet shown up in cash flows.
The full reasoning comes with a free account.
Free account
Read the full BWX Technologies analysis free
- The full reasoning behind all four pillars
- Graham, Lynch and Greenblatt on the same stock
3 full analyses a week · no card needed
For and against
The strongest points on each side, with the numbers behind them.
In its favor
6- 1Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program effective monopoly status
- 25-year average of 12.7% is -quality
- 3-0.7% share count CAGR means management is repurchasing
- 4Interest coverage of 8.60x leaves room above fixed charges
Concerns
5- 154.4x and 62.7x EV/ bake in massive future growth
- 2Owner-earnings yield of 1.6% is far below opportunity cost
- 3EPS CAGR of only 2.7% trails the revenue growth, signaling margin pressure
- 4Debt/equity of 1.58x and net debt/EBITDA of 2.77x add risk
Price history
$135+137.9%· 5-year return
Weekly closing prices. Touch or hover the line for a date.
The business
How the business works
BWXT manufactures nuclear components for the US Navy's submarine and aircraft carrier reactors, supplies fuel for Canadian CANDU reactors, and provides medical isotopes. Roughly two-thirds of revenue comes from the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program where BWXT is functionally the sole qualified supplier. The 22.6% is modest because production is cost-plus government-contract structure. The 12.7% five-year versus 8.1% ttm ROIC suggests recent capex for new isotope and microreactor capacity is dragging on returns.
What other investors would say
The same company, judged by three other documented playbooks.
Keep researching
Similar companies in Industrials
Free weekly email
Liked the read on BWXT? Get the next ones on Monday.
Every Monday: the stocks most of the seven investors newly agree on. One email, unsubscribe any time.
Research, not investment advice.
See the Buffett analysis of BWX Technologies
The score, the checklist and the full reasoning open with a free account. You get 3 full analyses a week, and this stock is the first one. No card needed.
Create a free account3 full analyses a week · no card needed
Already have an account? Sign in