Start here if you're new
what it is
It makes boilers, scrubbers, and service work for power plants and factories.
how it gets paid
Last year Babcock & Wilcox made $717M in revenue.
what just happened
Revenue hit $449M, but EPS stayed at -$0.57.
At a glance
C balance sheet — red flag territory — real financial stress
20/100 earnings predictability — expect surprises
10.5% return on capital — nothing to write home about
-$0.96 fy2024 eps est
$717M fy2024 rev est
xvary composite: 31/100 — weak
What they do
It makes boilers, scrubbers, and service work for power plants and factories.
B&W has 3 business lines and 1,950 employees. That is not huge. It is enough to win a $40M wet-gas scrubbing job in Canada, because leaving means rewiring part of your plant, not swapping a vendor. The company lives where old equipment needs surgery, and that is a nasty place for competitors to enter.
How they make money
$717M
annual revenue
total revenue
$717M
n/a
The products that matter
maintains installed power assets
Parts & Services
$~400M · roughly 56% of segment mix shown here
This is the steadier piece of the story. It grew 17% in 2025 and gives you recurring work tied to equipment already in the field.
+17% growth
builds large power projects
Base Electron AI Project
$2.4B · 1.2 GW
This single project is more than four times BW's $588M trailing revenue. If it moves from announcement to full execution, the company starts to look much larger. If it stalls, the growth story shrinks fast.
largest catalyst
project revenue and equipment delivery
New Build Projects
$~317M · roughly 44% of segment mix shown here
This is where the upside sits and where the lumpiness lives. Big contracts can change the revenue line in a hurry, but timing risk is the whole point of the stock.
lumpy by design
Key numbers
$290M
debt
Long-term debt → money owed for more than a year → $290M sits ahead of shareholders before they see a dime.
42.0%
sales growth
Sales fell 42% from the prior period, so you are looking at a business still fighting gravity.
10.5%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit earned on invested money → 10.5% is decent, but it is not enough to ignore the debt.
2.5
beta
Beta → how hard the stock moves versus the market → 2.5 means the ride is 2.5 times rougher than the index.
Financial health
C
strength
- balance sheet grade C — very weak — significant financial distress
- risk rank 5 — safer than 5% of stocks
- price stability 5 / 100
- long-term debt $290M (17% of capital)
C — below average. watch for debt servicing and cash burn.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for BW right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
Revenue hit $449M, but EPS stayed at -$0.57.
Revenue rose 201% vs. prior year to $449M. EPS was -$0.57 — do not trust triple-digit “EPS fell” percentages when the sign or base flips; verify the comparable quarter. You are looking at scale without profit.
$449M
revenue
-$0.57
eps
+201%
revenue vs. last year
the number that mattered
The $449M quarter matters because it shows the company can land work while profits stay negative.
source: company earnings report, 2026
Get this snapshot in your inbox
This page, delivered free — plus weekly updates when the numbers change. plain english, no spam.
weekly updates
earnings alerts
plain english
no spam
What could go wrong
the #1 risk is pipeline conversion risk on a $12B project funnel.
med
$12B pipeline is not $12B of revenue
The pipeline is roughly 20 times trailing revenue. That gap is the upside case and the risk in the same sentence.
If conversion slows, the market is left valuing a $1B company on a $588M revenue base instead of a future scale story.
med
Base Electron concentration
The $2.4B Base Electron AI power project is more than four times trailing revenue. One project carrying that much narrative weight is never a small detail.
Any delay in notice to proceed, financing, or execution would hit expectations fast because so much of the growth story sits here.
med
debt still narrows the margin for error
Net debt ended 2025 at $119.7M and long-term debt sits at $290M. For a stock with a C balance sheet, that means execution mistakes carry financing consequences.
If cash conversion disappoints while project needs rise, equity holders start underwriting the balance sheet before they get to underwrite growth.
med
the stable business is not big enough to carry the whole story
Parts & Services grew 17%, which helps. But the full business still declined 28.2% from last year, which tells you the steadier segment cannot offset weak project timing on its own.
If services growth cools before larger projects start contributing, the bull case loses its bridge.
The combined risk picture is simple: BW is asking the market to believe in work measured in billions while reporting revenue measured in hundreds of millions.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
next earnings
does the $12B pipeline turn into signed backlog
You want fewer grand promises and more booked work. Watch for contract conversion, not just pipeline language.
parts & services
does the 17% growth keep holding up
This is the steadiest revenue stream on the page. If it keeps growing, BW buys time while larger projects move through their milestones.
base electron
full notice to proceed matters more than commentary
The $2.4B, 1.2 GW project is the cleanest single proof point in the bull case. Watch for financing and execution milestones, not marketing language.
balance sheet
did net debt stay below $120M
Debt fell to $119.7M at year-end. If that starts climbing before revenue catches up, you learn quickly how much room the company does not have.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
20 / 100
in human-speak, analysts do not see a smooth earnings path here.
risk rank
5
safer than only 5% of stocks. You are being paid, or hoping to be paid, for taking real execution risk.
xvary composite
31 / 100
the rating is weak because the story is large and the financial base is still small.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for BW is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$9
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
Want the deeper analysis?
The full deep dive: dcf model, scenario analysis, competitive moat breakdown, and quarterly tracking — everything on this page, taken further.
see plans from $5/moThe deep dive