Howmet Aerospace Inc. (HWM) Business Profile

What it does

Howmet Aerospace makes engineered metal components for aircraft, jet engines, industrial gas turbines and commercial vehicles. Its products include turbine blades, engine rings, aircraft fasteners, structural parts and forged aluminum wheels. The company sells to customers in commercial and defense aerospace, power generation and transportation, either directly or through distributors.

Many of its parts are designed for demanding operating conditions. Engine components include airfoils with cooling features and coatings for extreme temperatures. Its fasteners hold aircraft structures together and can be designed for lightweight composite airframes and lightning-strike protection. Its wheels are used on trucks, buses and trailers.

Howmet organizes its operations into four businesses: Engine Products, Fastening Systems, Engineered Structures and Forged Wheels. Engine Products serves aircraft engine and gas turbine customers, while Engineered Structures makes materials and components for aircraft and defense applications. Fastening Systems supplies aerospace and industrial customers as well as transportation manufacturers. Forged Wheels serves the commercial transportation market under the Alcoa Wheels brand.

The company is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and John C. Plant is its executive chairman and chief executive officer. Its predecessor, Alcoa Inc., was formed in 1888.

How it makes money

Howmet earns revenue by manufacturing and selling components for new equipment and replacement parts. Customers use its products in aircraft engines and airframes, industrial turbines and commercial vehicles. The company also sells installation tools with its fastening systems.

Engine Products makes rotating and structural engine components, including airfoils and seamless rolled rings. Fastening Systems produces fasteners for aircraft, engines, industrial equipment and transportation vehicles. Engineered Structures makes titanium ingots and mill products and processes them into forgings, extrusions and machined components. Forged Wheels makes aluminum wheels for trucks, buses and trailers.

Replacement parts provide a continuing source of demand alongside components for new equipment. Howmet’s commercial aerospace spares serve both older and next-generation engine programs. The company expects gas turbine spares demand to grow as the installed turbine fleet expands. In Q3 2026, spares revenue was approximately $570 million, or approximately 21% of total revenue.

Howmet uses customer contracts to pass through some increases in raw material and energy costs, although the timing and extent of recovery can vary. In 2025, sales growth reflected higher aerospace and gas turbine volumes, favorable product pricing and cost pass-through, partly offset by lower commercial transportation volumes. Howmet acquired Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing, or CAM, in April 2026, adding to Fastening Systems revenue. It also divested its Savannah Disc forging facility.

Total sales increased in 2025; Q3 2026 revenue was $2.7 billion.

Customers and how it sells

Howmet serves manufacturers and operators across commercial aerospace, defense aerospace, commercial transportation and gas turbines. Aerospace was its largest market, accounting for approximately 70% of revenue in 2025. Customers buy parts for new aircraft and engines as well as spares for equipment already in service.

RTX Corporation and GE Aerospace each represented approximately 11% of Howmet’s third-party sales in 2025. Howmet has also named Safran, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce among its engine customers. Its gas turbine products serve heavy-duty units as well as smaller turbines used in electricity generation and oil and gas applications.

The company sells directly to customers or through distributors. It operates in 19 countries, with manufacturing and other activities in North America, Europe and Asia. Based on the country from which products were shipped, North America generated 72% of 2025 sales and Europe generated 22%. Operations outside those regions include activities in Japan and China.

Howmet had approximately 25,430 employees worldwide at the end of 2025. Its principal facilities include plants producing castings, forgings, fasteners, rings and wheels across multiple countries.

Suppliers and costs

Howmet buys materials including titanium, nickel, aluminum, cobalt, ceramics and specialized alloys, as well as energy for manufacturing. Requirements vary by segment: Engine Products uses materials including nickel and superalloys, while Engineered Structures purchases titanium scrap and titanium sponge. Forged Wheels uses aluminum and energy.

Raw materials are generally purchased from third parties under competitively priced contracts or bidding arrangements. Howmet maintains annual or long-term contracts for most supply requirements and uses spot purchases for the remainder. It depends on limited-source or sole-source suppliers for some inputs, including titanium sponge and specialized metal alloys; the supplied material does not name those suppliers.

Manufacturing costs include materials, energy and labor. Howmet’s processes also require investment in facilities and equipment: the company is expanding capacity for aerospace and gas turbine products. In 2025, cost of goods sold was 65.8% of sales. Higher volumes, pricing and productivity gains lowered that percentage from the prior year, partly offset by increased headcount.

Howmet generally seeks to pass higher raw material and energy costs to customers through contracts, but increases can reach the company before selling prices adjust. Competitive pressure can also limit its ability to raise prices.

Competitive position

Howmet competes across several product markets. Precision Castparts competes in titanium alloys, forgings, rings, castings and aerospace fasteners. ATI competes in titanium alloys and precision forgings, while Lisi Aerospace competes in aerospace fasteners. Consolidated Precision Products competes in investment castings, and Frisa competes in seamless rings. In wheels, Howmet faces suppliers including Accuride, Speedline and Wheels India.

Howmet says the markets it serves are intensely competitive and that competitors can make many of its products using similar or alternative manufacturing processes. Some large customers also operate their own furnaces for airfoil castings. Howmet considers Consolidated Precision Products capable in structural castings and says its position could affect the scale or location of a further plant Howmet is considering.

Howmet’s intellectual property includes patents and trade secrets covering products, manufacturing processes and material compositions. It says no single patent, trade secret or trademark is material to the whole business. The company also points to technological expertise, capacity, quality and longstanding customer relationships as competitive factors.

Our reading: Manufacturing know-how and customer relationships provide a meaningful defense because demanding components require technical capability and qualified production. Our reading: That defense is limited by competing processes, customer-owned production and the need to keep investing in capacity.

Growth opportunities

Howmet’s growth plans are tied to production of aircraft and engines, demand for replacement parts, and the expansion of industrial gas turbine capacity. In 2025, sales increased 11% from 2024, with growth in commercial aerospace, defense aerospace and gas turbines, including engine spares. Commercial transportation volumes declined during that year.

The company expects continued demand for aerospace spares, citing engine maintenance backlogs and issues affecting the time newer narrowbody engines spend in service between shop visits. It is building production for the LEAP-1B engine upgrade and increasing output for the geared turbofan Advantage engine. Howmet expects the LEAP-1B upgrade to launch during the first quarter of 2027.

Gas turbines serve electricity generation and oil and gas customers, including demand associated with data centers. Howmet says the new industrial gas turbine capacity it is installing is sold out and is considering further additions. It expects its industrial gas turbine sales to double from the 2025 base in three years, and potentially reach 2.5 times that base inside five years.

Acquisitions have added to the fasteners business: Howmet acquired Brunner in February 2026 and CAM in April 2026. It is also investing in capacity, particularly in Engine Products. Howmet says it has been asked to increase missile-parts production significantly, although final agreements have not been concluded.

Structural risks

• Cyclical demand: Aircraft and commercial vehicle production responds to economic conditions, financing, fuel prices and customer demand. Defense demand also depends on government budgets and priorities. Changes in aircraft production timing or product mix can affect Howmet’s results.
• Customer concentration and production rates: RTX Corporation and GE Aerospace each represented approximately 11% of third-party sales in 2025. Howmet says Boeing production rates have had and are expected to have a material effect on its financial performance. Customers may also reduce orders, switch suppliers or enter Howmet’s markets.
• Supply and cost pressures: Limited-source materials, supplier capacity constraints, tariffs and energy prices can disrupt production or raise costs. Howmet may face delays or competitive limits when passing cost increases to customers.
• Manufacturing and workforce execution: Complex production must meet customer and regulatory specifications. Equipment failures, quality problems or shortages of skilled workers can delay orders, increase costs or lead to customer claims. Rapid demand growth may also outpace Howmet’s ability to increase production.
• Competition and investment: Rival manufacturers and customer-owned production can pressure pricing and market share. Capacity expansions and acquisitions require execution; acquired businesses may be harder or more costly to integrate than expected.

Bottom line

Our reading

Our reading: Howmet is a component manufacturer whose technical processes and customer relationships support its position in demanding aerospace and turbine markets. Its business also depends on customers’ production schedules, replacement-part demand and access to specialized materials. Capacity investment can support growth, but executing that expansion while managing supply, labor and competitive pressures remains central to the outcome.