stockrowWhat it does
Hexcel manufactures lightweight composite materials and structures used primarily in aircraft, defense and space equipment. Its customers use these materials where strength, durability and low weight matter. The company also sells products for industrial applications, including automobiles, recreational equipment and electronics.
A composite combines materials with different properties. Hexcel makes carbon fiber and other reinforcements, resins, adhesives and honeycomb cores, as well as products that combine them. One example is prepreg: fiber reinforcement combined with resin before a customer shapes and cures it into a finished component. Hexcel’s materials can be found in aircraft wings and other structures, engine fan blades and cases, rotorcraft blades, satellites and launch vehicles.
The company also makes finished and semi-finished parts, including machined honeycomb components and composite structures. Its honeycomb products can provide a lightweight core between outer layers of a structure, adding stiffness without much weight. Other engineered products help control radio-frequency and electromagnetic interference.
Hexcel sells to aircraft manufacturers and their subcontractors, defense contractors and other industrial customers. Its manufacturing, sales and representation network serves customers across the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, India and Africa. Thomas C. Gentile III is chairman, chief executive officer and president.
How it makes money
Hexcel earns revenue by manufacturing and selling materials and engineered components. Its Composite Materials segment sells carbon fiber, fabrics, resins, prepregs, adhesives and honeycomb. Customers incorporate these materials into products ranging from commercial and military aircraft to industrial equipment. In 2025, the segment’s sales to third-party customers were $1,516.2 million.
Engineered Products turns materials, including prepregs and honeycomb, into composite structures and precision-machined parts, principally for aerospace customers. Its products include aircraft components, engineered cores and interference-control materials. The segment’s 2025 revenue was $377.7 million.
Hexcel sells directly through its own sales and marketing staff and uses independent distributors for some products, markets and regions. Many major aerospace customers have multi-year contracts that set terms and Hexcel’s share of their requirements, rather than fixed purchase quantities or delivery dates. Customer production schedules therefore affect orders. Customers also seek cost reductions or other improvements in contract terms, and Hexcel uses measures including productivity improvements and cost-index provisions to address that pressure.
Commercial aerospace materials are used mainly in new aircraft and engines. They are designed to last for the life of the aircraft or engine, so the aftermarket for those products is minimal. Hexcel also supplies rotorcraft blade materials and manufacturing services; it has said that its Black Hawk blade spars serve both new production and aftermarket demand.
For Q3 2026, Hexcel reported sales of $496 million. The company manages production against customer demand and purchase orders, and generally ships materials several months before final aircraft assembly.
| Product or service | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Aerospace | $1.1 billion | 60.6% | −3.96% |
| Space & Defense | $747.0 million | 39.4% | 5.39% |
Customers and how it sells
Hexcel’s customers include aircraft manufacturers and their subcontractors, defense contractors, space-program suppliers and industrial companies. Airbus and its subcontractors accounted for 39.0% of 2025 revenue, while The Boeing Company and its subcontractors accounted for 13.0% of 2025 revenue. Together, the two customers and their related subcontractors accounted for 52.0% of 2025 revenue.
Commercial Aerospace was Hexcel’s largest market in 2025. Its materials serve commercial aircraft and engine production, as well as business jets and regional aircraft. Defense, Space & Other customers use its products in military aircraft, rotorcraft, launch vehicles, satellites and industrial applications. Hexcel supplies materials for programs including the Lockheed Martin F-35 and Sikorsky CH-53K.
The company sells directly to customers worldwide and also uses independent authorized distributors for selected products, markets and regions. Its manufacturing facilities include sites in the United States, Europe and Morocco. It also serves markets through sales offices and representatives across the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, India and Africa.
In 2025, 47% of production and 57% of customer sales occurred outside the United States. Hexcel had 5,563 full-time employees and contract workers at December 31, 2025.
| Segment | Revenue, FY2025 | Share | Change on the year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Composite Materials | $1.5 billion | 83.7% | −0.97% |
| Engineered Products | $377.7 million | 20.9% | 1.53% |
| Corporate & Other and Intersegment Elimination | −$82.8 million | −4.57% | — |
Suppliers and costs
Hexcel makes and uses materials at several stages of production. It manufactures carbon fiber from a precursor called polyacrylonitrile, whose primary raw material is acrylonitrile. It also formulates resin systems and uses its own fibers, fabrics and other materials in downstream products. The company sells materials to outside customers as well as using them internally.
Hexcel also buys carbon fiber, glass yarn, resins, aramid fibers and paper, and aluminum foil. Customer qualifications or certifications generally dictate which carbon fiber sources can be used in a particular application. Some materials have only one or two qualified sources, and the cost of qualifying products can make additional sources impractical.
Production is primarily made to order against customer schedules, with some production based on forecasts. Hexcel seeks corresponding commitments from key suppliers when it enters multi-year aerospace contracts. It has experienced increases in material and transportation costs, some of which it has not been able to recover or offset, as well as transportation and performance delays. Tariffs have also increased the cost of materials.
Hexcel has restarted idle production lines and hired workers to support higher production rates. It says those steps pressure margins in the short term.
- Revenue$1.9B
- Cost of revenue−$1.5B
- Research and development−$56.4M
- Selling, general and administrative−$169.0M
- Other operating costs−$37.8M
- Operating income$171.6M
Competitive position
Hexcel competes with composite-material producers worldwide and with suppliers of substitute materials, including metal, structural foam and wood. Competition varies by product and market. Relevant factors include technical performance, price, delivery, service, customers’ sourcing preferences and how easily a material works with a customer’s manufacturing process. No specific competing company is named in the available business description.
Hexcel believes new entrants face barriers from aerospace certification, product-performance records, manufacturing capacity, technical expertise and customer relationships. Aircraft customers require traceability of raw materials and finished goods, as well as consistent delivery. Hexcel also develops resin formulations and carbon fiber and produces materials at multiple stages of its manufacturing process.
Our reading: Qualification requirements and performance records provide a meaningful barrier to entry because a new supplier must establish that its materials meet aerospace customers’ requirements. Our reading: Hexcel’s integration across fibers, resins and downstream products supports its ability to tailor materials, although it still purchases significant quantities of carbon fiber from outside suppliers.
Our reading: Long customer relationships and multi-year agreements support continued participation in programs, but they do not guarantee sales volumes: many agreements specify a share of customer requirements rather than fixed quantities. Hexcel says it does not believe its business would be materially affected by the expiration of any single patent or related series of patents.
Growth opportunities
Hexcel’s commercial aerospace demand is tied to the production of new aircraft and engines. The company expects future aircraft platforms to offer more opportunities for composite materials than their predecessors. Newer aircraft designs generally use more of its materials than older generations, and larger aircraft use more composites by weight than smaller aircraft.
Airbus and Boeing had a combined backlog of 15,474 aircraft at December 31, 2025. Hexcel has products on all Airbus and Boeing planes, though the value of its materials varies by aircraft type and platform. For established programs, it generally delivers into the supply chain four to six months before aircraft delivery.
Hexcel is returning idle lines to production and hiring to meet higher customer production rates. It expects demand signals to support around 100 A350 ship sets in 2027, compared with its guidance of at least 80 ship sets for 2026. It expects increased production volumes to improve fixed-cost absorption, while saying that restarting lines and training workers pressures near-term margins.
Defense and space are also growth priorities. Hexcel supplies materials to military aircraft, rotorcraft and space programs, and says greater use of composites in rotorcraft blades includes both new and replacement blades. It recently qualified an aerospace honeycomb product through an aerospace database, allowing engineers at customers and prospective customers to evaluate it for designs.
- $1.3BFY2021
- $1.6BFY2022
- $1.8BFY2023
- $1.9BFY2024
- $1.9BFY2025
- $2.0BFY2026 guidance
Structural risks
- Aircraft production and customer concentration: Production delays, cancellations, inventory corrections or lower aircraft build rates can reduce demand for Hexcel’s materials. A significant reduction in purchases by Airbus, Boeing or their subcontractors could materially affect the business.
- Defense funding: Military aircraft and space programs depend on government budgets and procurement decisions. Programs can be delayed, reduced or canceled, and funding decisions can take time to translate into production and sales.
- Supply and cost pressure: Some raw materials have limited qualified sources. Shortages, tariffs, transportation disruptions or higher material and labor costs can reduce margins, particularly when Hexcel cannot pass increases through under long-duration contracts.
- Execution and labor: Hexcel needs trained employees and qualified manufacturing capacity to meet customer schedules. Hiring and training, work stoppages, equipment problems or delays in bringing capacity online can disrupt production or increase costs.
- International exposure: Tariffs, trade restrictions, currency movements and other changes in international conditions can affect costs and sales. European operations often sell in U.S. dollars while incurring labor and other costs in local currencies.
- Government compliance: Failure to meet procurement, security or export-control requirements can result in penalties, loss of security clearances or exclusion from government contracting.
Bottom line
Our reading
Hexcel is a materials and components supplier whose sales depend heavily on aircraft production rather than recurring aircraft maintenance. Its technical capabilities and qualification requirements can make entry difficult, but customer concentration and contracts without fixed purchase quantities leave demand exposed to aircraft schedules. Vertical integration supports its product range, while limited-source inputs, cost inflation and the expense of preparing capacity can pressure margins.