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what it is
It helps companies in 120 countries buy insurance, manage benefits, and handle retirement work.
how it gets paid
Last year Willis Towers Wat made $9.5B in revenue.
why growth slowed
Revenue fell 2.3% last year. Full-year earnings are often quoted around high single dollars per share—do not confuse that annual figure with a single quarter's print.
what just happened
With ~$9.5B in annual revenue, a typical quarter is on the order of ~$2.4B in revenue—roughly one-fourth of the year—not $6.6B. Check the filing for the exact quarter; EPS for one quarter is also not the same thing as full-year EPS.
At a glance
B++ balance sheet — above average — nothing keeping you up at night
95/100 earnings predictability — you can trust these numbers
19.4x trailing p/e — priced about right
1.3% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
19.0% return on capital — solid versus most services names
xvary composite: 68/100 — average
What they do
It helps companies in 120 countries buy insurance, manage benefits, and handle retirement work.
48,900 employees across 120 countries is not a local shop. Risk and broking means placing insurance deals, and Health, Wealth, and Career means benefits and retirement help. That reach keeps your clients tied to the workflow, so leaving is painful, and 20% of revenue still comes from the UK.
How they make money
$9.5B
annual revenue · revenue declined -2.3% last year
total revenue
$9.5B
-2.3%
The products that matter
benefits and workforce advisory
Human Capital & Benefits
part of a $9.5B revenue base
Named lines on this grid are partial: Risk & Broking plus Investment Income below sum to about $6.2B, leaving roughly $3.3B in other segments to reach the $9.5B consolidated total—check the 10-K map before you quote any one card as “the whole company.”
client retention
corporate insurance brokerage
Risk & Broking
$3.8B · core fee engine
this $3.8B business is the cleanest read on WTW's brokerage franchise. If this segment grows, the rest of the story gets easier to believe.
core driver
income on client funds and capital
Investment Income
$2.4B · 25% of sales
$2.4B is too large to treat as background noise. When one quarter of sales comes from investment income, rates and asset balances matter more than most readers think.
profit lever
Key numbers
19.4x
trailing p/e
You are paying 19.4x trailing earnings on the scoreboard for a business with a 29.0% operating margin—do not silently swap forward and trailing multiples.
29.0%
operating margin
That means 29 cents of every revenue dollar stay after running the business.
1.3%
cash payout rate
The payout is small, so this is an earnings story first and an income story second.
95
earnings steadiness
A 95 score says earnings are unusually steady, which is rare in services.
Financial health
B++
strength
- balance sheet grade B++ — above average financial health
- risk rank 2 — safer than 80% of stocks
- price stability 90 / 100
- long-term debt $4.8B (13% of capital)
- net profit margin 20.0% — keeps 20 cents of every dollar in revenue
- return on equity 29% — $0.29 profit for every $1 investors have put in
B++ with risk rank and net profit margin standing out. your money faces less risk here than at most public companies.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in WTW 3 years ago → it's now worth $13,440.
The index would have given you $14,770.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
annual vs quarterly
Scale-check: with ~$9.5B in annual revenue, a typical quarter is on the order of ~$2.4B in revenue—roughly one-fourth of the year. Quarterly EPS is usually ~$2–$3, not an $8.74 one-quarter print (that magnitude belongs to a longer window).
Prior copy on this page paired $6.6B revenue with $8.74 EPS as if both were a single quarter and cited triple-digit vs. prior year growth—none of that reconciles to ~$9.5B annual revenue. Use the filing for the exact quarter; the anchor here is full-year revenue ~$9.5B, down 2.3%.
~$2.4B
qtr revenue (order of magnitude)
~$2–$3
qtr EPS (typical range)
-2.3%
FY revenue change
the number that mattered
The ~$9.5B annual revenue line (down 2.3%) is the backbone; mismatched quarter/annual figures had to be stripped so the page does not contradict itself.
-
willis towers watson has announced three new acquisitions.first, willis has acquired newfront insurance holdings inc., a san francisco-based broker, for $1.3 billion. this deal will expand willis’ presence in the u.s. middle market and high-growth specialties, including technology, fintech, and life sciences.
-
second, willis has acquired flowstone partners, llc.flowstone is an alternative investment firm with highly specialized expertise in private equity secondaries for individual wealth and institutional clients. this transaction will enhance willis’ ability to bring leading private markets investment capabilities to its customers. third, willis has acquired cushon, a ukbased workplace pensions, savings and financial wellbeing company.
-
cushon adds almost $4 billion in assets under management and 730,000 members to willis’ portfolio.
-
willis’ top line is experiencing difficulties, but ought to rebound in the coming quarters.overall revenues have decreased due to the sale of the tranzact business, which was completed last year. however, this has been partially offset by higher revenues from retirement work in great britain and north america.
-
the top line probably slipped to $9.6 billion, in 2025.
source: EDGAR filing
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What could go wrong
the #1 risk is revenue stagnation after the tranzact divestiture and acquisition push.
med
growth does not come back
Revenue fell 2.3% last year. That is manageable once. If it repeats, WTW stops being a steady compounder story and becomes a quality business with no top-line engine.
At 19.4x trailing earnings, this stock still needs enough growth to defend the multiple.
med
newfront and other deals fail to earn their keep
WTW is absorbing a $1.3B Newfront acquisition while also adding Flowstone and Cushon. More assets and capabilities sound good. Integration mistakes sound expensive because they usually are.
If execution slips, the $3.8B Risk & Broking franchise has to carry more weight while margins absorb the mess.
med
investment income cools
The page attributes $2.4B of revenue, or 25% of sales, to investment income. That is too large to treat as a footnote. If balances or rates move the wrong way, you feel it.
A softer investment income line would hit one quarter of the revenue base by the page's own math.
med
corporate clients cut back in a downturn
Insurance and advisory demand is sticky, not magical. A real slowdown can reduce client activity, delay benefit work, and make placement volumes less attractive.
That pressure would show up across fee growth and in any market-sensitive income tied to client assets or cash.
together, these risks touch the $3.8B Risk & Broking engine, the $2.4B investment income stream, and a business that already showed a 2.3% sales decline last year
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
revenue finally turning positive again
last year came in at -2.3%. if that number flips back above zero, the growth debate gets less complicated fast.
risk
newfront integration
the $1.3B deal needs to do more than sound strategic. watch for any pressure on margins or commentary around client retention and cross-sell execution.
calendar
next quarterly revenue print
WTW's earnings are predictable. revenue is the less settled part of the story. the next sales number matters more than another routine earnings beat.
trend
institutional flow
two straight quarters of net selling is not a collapse, but it is a message. if the flow flips positive, sentiment probably improves with it.
Analyst rankings
short-term outlook
average
momentum score 3 — in human-speak, analysts do not see a strong near-term edge either way.
risk profile
above average
stability score 2 — safer than roughly 80% of stocks. this is the part of the story that works.
chart momentum
average
technical score 3 — the chart is behaving like a normal large-cap, not sending a loud signal.
earnings predictability
95 / 100
management delivers unusually consistent numbers. you usually get fewer ugly surprises here than in most stocks.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net selling for 2 consecutive quarters — 322 buyers vs. 329 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 92.1M shares. net selling for 2 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$287
$486
$329
current price
$387
target midpoint · +17% from current · 3-5yr high: $455 (+40% · 9% ann'l return)
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