Hawkins (HWKN) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $2.82B
• Dividend Yield: 0.5%
• Average Volume (3M): 128.46K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 53.4
• Beta (1Y): 0.82
• Revenue Growth: 11.86%
• EPS Growth: 1.99%
• Country: US
• Employees: 928
• Sector: Basic Materials
• Sector Strength: 58
• Industry: Chemicals - Specialty
• EPS (TTM): 0.69
• Shares Outstanding: 20,902,094
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 158,375
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 128,455
• PEG Ratio: 2.14
• Price to Book (P/B): 4.79
• Price to Sales (P/S): 2.26
• P/FCF Ratio: 31.48
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.07
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 2.84
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 12.44
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 17.43
• 1Y Price Target: $200.00
• Price Target Upside: 48.17% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Moderate Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 1
• EPS Forecast (FY): 3.94
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $1.07B

• Rating: 61 Neutral
• Price Target: $152.00 ▲(12.61% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 01/30/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 01/30/26

The score is primarily supported by strong underlying financial performance (multi-year growth and improved profitability with generally healthy cash generation). It is held back by weak technical positioning (trading below major moving averages with low RSI) and a less attractive valuation (high P/E with a low dividend yield).

Positive Factors

Multi-year revenue growth

Sustained top-line expansion across 2021–TTM demonstrates durable demand and scale in Hawkins’ industrial, water-treatment and food ingredient end markets. Larger revenue base supports operational investments, distribution density, and bargaining leverage with suppliers over the next 2–6 months and beyond.

Improving profitability margins

Multi-year gross and EBIT margin improvement signals better pricing power, product mix, and operational efficiency. Higher structural margins increase cash generation potential and resilience to input-cost swings, supporting durable profitability and reinvestment capacity over the medium term.

Healthy operating cash generation

Operating cash consistently above net income and positive FCF indicate earnings quality and internal funding ability. Reliable cash flow supports working-capital needs, capex, and potential debt reduction or shareholder returns, giving the company durable financial flexibility in coming quarters.

Negative Factors

Elevated TTM leverage

A material rise in TTM debt-to-equity reduces financial flexibility and raises interest-rate exposure. If the increase reflects working-capital or acquisition-related borrowing, leverage may normalize; if persistent, it could constrain investment, increase financing costs, and limit downside protection over the next several quarters.

Variable free cash flow conversion

Inconsistent FCF conversion implies earnings don't reliably become cash, likely due to working-capital swings or episodic investments. This variability can impair the company’s ability to consistently fund debt paydown, capex, or distributions, creating execution risk across the next 2–6 months.

Recent margin compression risk

A reversal from prior margin gains suggests rising input costs, pricing pressure, or a shift to lower-margin product mix. If persistent, this trend could erode the improved profitability base, reduce cash flow generation, and limit strategic flexibility over the medium term.

Hawkins Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Hawkins, Inc. blends, manufactures, and distributes chemicals and other specialty ingredients in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Industrial, Water Treatment, and Health and Nutrition. The Industrial segment offers industrial chemicals, products, and services to agriculture, chemical processing, electronics, energy, food, pharmaceutical, and plating industries. This segment primarily provides acids, alkalis, and food-grade and pharmaceutical salts and ingredients. It also receives, stores, and distributes various chemicals, such as liquid caustic soda, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, urea, phosphoric acid, aqua ammonia, and potassium hydroxide. In addition, this segment manufactures sodium hypochlorite and agricultural products, as well as various food-grade and pharmaceutical products that include liquid phosphates, lactates, and other blended products; repackages water treatment chemicals and bulk industrial chemicals; and performs custom blending of chemicals, and contract and private label bleach packaging. The Water Treatment segment offers chemicals, equipment, and solutions for potable water, municipal and industrial wastewater, industrial process water, and non-residential swimming pool and agriculture water. The Health and Nutrition segment offers ingredient distribution, processing, and formulation solutions to manufacturers of nutraceutical, functional food and beverage, personal care, dietary supplement and other nutritional food, and health and wellness products. Its products portfolio includes minerals, botanicals and herbs, vitamins and amino acids, excipients, joint products, sweeteners, and enzymes. The company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Roseville, Minnesota.

How the Company Makes Money

Hawkins makes money primarily by selling chemicals and ingredients and by providing related value-added services. A core revenue stream comes from manufacturing and blending (producing and formulating chemical products and then selling them at a margin over raw material and processing costs) and from distribution (purchasing chemicals/ingredients from producers and reselling them to customers, earning a gross margin that reflects sourcing, logistics, storage, and service). The company also generates revenue through water treatment-related products and services, which typically include supplying treatment chemicals to municipalities and industrial facilities and supporting customers with application, delivery, and inventory/chemical management programs; these services help embed Hawkins in customer operations and can support recurring, replenishment-driven sales. In food-related markets, Hawkins sells food-grade ingredients to food manufacturers and processors, generally earning distributor/manufacturer margins based on volume and product mix. Across these activities, earnings are influenced by customer demand in its served industries, pricing and input-cost dynamics (including the company’s ability to pass through cost changes), and the scale/efficiency of its logistics network (warehouses, trucking, and packaging capabilities). Specific significant partnerships are null.

Hawkins Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Strong multi-year revenue growth with improved gross and EBIT margins versus earlier years, plus solid ROE. Offsetting factors include modest margin softening in the TTM period, a higher TTM debt-to-equity versus recent annual levels, and somewhat variable free-cash-flow conversion.

Income Statement

Revenue has expanded materially over the last several years (from ~$597M in 2021 to ~$974M in FY2025, and ~$1.06B in TTM (Trailing-Twelve-Months)), showing strong multi-year growth despite a slower recent annual growth pace (FY2025 ~6% and TTM growth shown as elevated). Profitability has also improved versus earlier years, with gross margin rising from ~17.7% (FY2023) to ~23.0% (TTM) and EBIT margin moving from ~9–10% (FY2022–FY2023) to ~11.7% (TTM). The main watch-out is modest recent margin compression versus FY2025 (net margin ~8.7% in FY2025 vs ~8.0% TTM; EBITDA margin ~16.4% FY2025 vs ~15.1% TTM), suggesting incremental cost pressure or mix shift.

Balance Sheet

The balance sheet looks solid with a steadily growing equity base (from ~$265M in FY2021 to ~$519M in TTM (Trailing-Twelve-Months)) and consistently strong returns on equity (~15–19% across periods). Leverage appears manageable overall, but the debt picture is mixed: debt-to-equity is reasonable in recent annual periods (~0.27–0.35 in FY2024–FY2025) yet is higher in the TTM snapshot (~0.58), which could indicate a temporary working-capital build, acquisition-related borrowings, or timing effects. Total assets have grown meaningfully, supporting scale, but the higher TTM leverage warrants monitoring.

Cash Flow

Cash generation is generally healthy: operating cash flow is strong in absolute dollars (TTM ~$137M; FY2024 ~$159M) and currently exceeds net income (TTM coverage ~1.25x; FY2025 ~1.04x), a positive sign for earnings quality. Free cash flow is positive and improving in TTM (about ~$88M) with strong TTM growth, but it has been more volatile year to year (notably negative free-cash-flow growth in FY2025 and weaker conversion in earlier years). Free cash flow runs at roughly two-thirds of net income in recent periods (TTM ~0.64), indicating some ongoing reinvestment or working-capital needs that can pressure near-term cash conversion.

Breakdown	TTM	Mar 2025	Mar 2024	Mar 2023	Mar 2022	Mar 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	1.06B	974.43M	919.16M	935.10M	774.54M	596.87M
Gross Profit	243.06M	225.54M	193.64M	165.12M	146.52M	123.76M
EBITDA	173.44M	159.76M	137.23M	117.23M	95.51M	78.55M
Net Income	82.41M	84.34M	75.36M	60.04M	51.54M	40.98M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	976.53M	769.87M	673.16M	602.36M	567.33M	481.44M
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	8.21M	5.10M	7.15M	7.57M	3.50M	3.00M
Total Debt	278.29M	159.74M	108.26M	120.33M	136.36M	110.57M
Total Liabilities	457.62M	309.57M	267.13M	252.34M	264.73M	216.20M
Stockholders Equity	518.91M	460.29M	406.03M	350.02M	302.60M	265.25M
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	87.69M	70.00M	119.35M	29.08M	14.32M	23.00M
Operating Cash Flow	137.44M	111.10M	159.50M	77.40M	42.84M	43.79M
Investing Cash Flow	-259.74M	-127.95M	-122.50M	-41.23M	-49.76M	-71.43M
Financing Cash Flow	122.21M	14.81M	-37.41M	-32.10M	7.42M	26.36M

Hawkins Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 134.98
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For HWKN, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 134.98 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 146.06, below the 50-day MA of 145.92, and below the 200-day MA of 152.02, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -1.45 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 37.47 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 22.13 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for HWKN.

Hawkins Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
CBT	70 Outperform	$3.58B	11.96	20.42%	2.72%	-7.04%	-11.28%
FUL	63 Neutral	$2.74B	20.94	7.98%	1.54%	-1.30%	-36.69%
Sector *	61 Neutral	$10.43B	7.12	-0.05%	2.87%	2.86%	-36.73%
HWKN	61 Neutral	$2.82B	53.35	16.73%	0.50%	11.86%	1.99%
AVNT	59 Neutral	$2.94B	34.90	3.48%	3.48%	1.03%	-24.57%
OLN	52 Neutral	$2.91B	-55.77	-2.18%	3.91%	4.68%	-62.80%
PRM	50 Neutral	$3.17B	-7.30	-17.79%	―	19.12%	―

Hawkins Corporate Events

Hawkins announces retirement of longtime general counsel Erstad

On December 17, 2025, Hawkins, Inc. announced that Richard G. Erstad, who has served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for 17 years, plans to retire. As part of a planned leadership transition, Erstad is expected to step down from his role as an executive officer on December 28, 2025, at the end of the company’s third fiscal quarter, but will remain employed with Hawkins until May 2026 to help ensure continuity and a smooth handover of his responsibilities.

The most recent analyst rating on (HWKN) stock is a Hold with a $136.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Hawkins stock, see the HWKN Stock Forecast page.