Hexcel Corp key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, Hexcel Corp had return on equity of 7.9%, an operating margin of 9.1%, debt equal to 79.4% of equity and a current ratio of 2.26. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2009Dec 2009 | 2010Dec 2010 | 2011Dec 2011 | 2012Dec 2012 | 2013Dec 2013 | 2014Dec 2014 | 2015Dec 2015 | 2016Dec 2016 | 2017Dec 2017 | 2018Dec 2018 | 2019Dec 2019 | 2020Dec 2020 | 2021Dec 2021 | 2022Dec 2022 | 2023Dec 2023 | 2024Dec 2024 | 2025Dec 2025 | LTMSept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 22.4% | 24.1% | 24.6% | 25.8% | 27.1% | 27.4% | 28.6% | 28.2% | 28.0% | 26.5% | 27.2% | 16.0% | 18.9% | 22.6% | 24.2% | 24.7% | 23.0% | 25.2% |
| Operating margin | 9.4% | 11.1% | 13.8% | 15.8% | 16.1% | 16.5% | 17.9% | 18.0% | 17.8% | 17.0% | 18.0% | 0.9% | 3.9% | 11.1% | 12.0% | 9.8% | 9.1% | 12.2% |
| Net margin | 5.1% | 6.6% | 9.7% | 10.4% | 11.2% | 11.3% | 12.7% | 12.5% | 14.4% | 12.6% | 13.0% | 2.1% | 1.2% | 8.0% | 5.9% | 6.9% | 5.8% | 8.5% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 6.7% | 6.6% | 0.9% | −2.0% | 4.6% | 3.1% | −0.2% | 3.7% | 7.6% | 10.8% | 12.2% | 14.2% | 9.3% | 6.1% | 8.3% | 10.7% | 8.3% | 10.4% |
| Return on equity | 9.8% | 12.5% | 18.5% | 18.3% | 17.4% | 18.1% | 20.4% | 20.6% | 20.7% | 19.6% | 22.2% | 2.1% | 1.1% | 8.3% | 6.5% | 8.1% | 7.9% | 13.3% |
| Return on assets | 4.5% | 6.2% | 10.3% | 11.0% | 10.9% | 10.8% | 11.2% | 10.9% | 11.0% | 9.9% | 10.3% | 1.0% | 0.6% | 4.5% | 3.7% | 4.7% | 4.0% | 6.3% |
| Asset turnover | 0.89 | 0.94 | 1.06 | 1.06 | 0.98 | 0.96 | 0.88 | 0.87 | 0.76 | 0.78 | 0.79 | 0.50 | 0.46 | 0.56 | 0.62 | 0.67 | 0.70 | 0.74 |
| Current ratio | 2.29 | 2.42 | 2.12 | 2.45 | 2.44 | 2.19 | 2.17 | 2.23 | 2.51 | 2.07 | 2.19 | 2.93 | 2.49 | 2.23 | 2.74 | 2.21 | 2.26 | 2.57 |
| Debt to equity | 68.2% | 50.4% | 31.3% | 25.8% | 25.4% | 36.3% | 48.9% | 55.3% | 54.2% | 72.4% | 73.3% | 61.3% | 55.4% | 46.6% | 40.8% | 45.9% | 79.4% | 70.6% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 4.0x | 5.6x | 16.6x | 24.9x | 37.1x | 38.2x | 23.4x | 16.3x | 12.8x | 9.8x | 9.3x | 0.3x | 1.4x | 4.8x | 6.3x | 6.0x | 4.6x | 5.2x |
| Effective tax rate | 28.4% | 22.9% | 23.7% | 31.2% | 28.9% | 30.0% | 26.1% | 26.7% | 13.1% | 18.7% | 20.2% | — | 26.8% | 21.1% | 11.0% | 14.7% | 19.0% | — |
| R&D as % of revenue | 2.7% | 2.6% | 2.3% | 2.3% | 2.5% | 2.6% | 2.4% | 2.3% | 2.5% | 2.6% | 2.4% | 3.1% | 3.4% | 2.9% | 2.9% | 3.0% | 3.0% | 3.2% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 9.7% | 10.1% | 8.7% | 8.3% | 8.4% | 8.0% | 8.4% | 7.9% | 7.7% | 6.7% | 6.7% | 8.1% | 10.2% | 9.4% | 9.2% | 9.3% | 8.9% | 9.1% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 8.9% | 4.2% | 11.3% | 16.7% | 11.6% | 14.0% | 16.4% | 16.4% | 14.1% | 8.4% | 8.7% | 3.4% | 2.1% | 4.8% | 6.0% | 4.6% | 3.9% | 4.3% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | 132.1% | 100.4% | 9.2% | −19.1% | 41.5% | 27.7% | −1.8% | 29.4% | 53.0% | 85.8% | 93.6% | 674.1% | 768.9% | 76.6% | 140.9% | 153.6% | 143.7% | 122.3% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | — | — | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 16.1% | 15.9% | 15.0% | 17.5% | 1.4% | 44.8% | 0.0% | 26.7% | 39.9% | 37.3% | 49.3% | 31.4% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | — | — | 0.0% | — | 115.4% | 276.3% | — | 205.3% | 128.1% | 171.1% | 51.3% | 18.2% | 0.0% | 34.8% | 48.6% | 148.6% | 323.3% | 194.1% |
| Quarter | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 | 2026 Q3Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 25.0% | 22.4% | 22.8% | 21.9% | 24.6% | 26.9% | 26.1% | 23.3% |
| Operating margin | 1.9% | 9.7% | 6.1% | 7.9% | 12.5% | 11.5% | 13.7% | 11.0% |
| Net margin | 1.2% | 6.3% | 2.8% | 4.5% | 9.4% | 7.4% | 9.3% | 7.8% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 30.4% | −12.0% | 1.6% | 21.2% | 21.8% | −1.2% | 11.0% | 10.2% |
| Current ratio | 2.21 | 2.59 | 2.69 | 2.75 | 2.26 | 2.45 | 2.43 | 2.57 |
| Debt to equity | 45.9% | 51.4% | 53.3% | 48.4% | 79.4% | 78.8% | 73.9% | 70.6% |
| R&D as % of revenue | 2.8% | 3.0% | 2.9% | 3.1% | 2.9% | 3.5% | 3.3% | 3.3% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 10.1% | 9.5% | 8.8% | 9.0% | 8.5% | 9.9% | 8.9% | 9.0% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $798m of assets due within a year against $311m of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $798m short-term assets against $1.1bn of longer-dated liabilities.
- More cash than debt $78m of cash against $935m of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 71% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 58% to 71% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $297m of operating cash flow against $935m of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $246m against $48m of interest.
Moat
Moderate moat
How hard Hexcel's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 13 / 20
Cash operating profit has been a median 10.4% of total assets over 10 years.
- Pricing power 8 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 24.2%, moving by 3.3 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
- Durability 4 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 11.9%; its worst year was 0.7%.
- Cash conversion 15 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 9.9% of revenue.
- Discipline 20 / 20
The diluted share count fell 8.9% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.9% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.
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