Hawkins (HWKN) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $2.72B
• Dividend Yield: 0.5%
• Average Volume (3M): 141.10K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 31.6
• Beta (1Y): 0.79
• 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: 167,449
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 141,105
• 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: 1.10
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 2.83
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 12.36
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 17.33
• 1Y Price Target: $200.00
• Price Target Upside: 60.00% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Moderate Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 1
• EPS Forecast (FY): N/A
• Revenue Forecast (FY): N/A

• Rating: 61 Neutral
• Price Target: $147.00 ▲(17.60% Upside)

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

Low Leverage / Strong Balance Sheet

Very low leverage and a robust 17.4% ROE indicate limited financial risk and efficient capital use. This durability enhances the firm's ability to fund operations, invest in growth or weather downturns without needing external financing, supporting long-term stability.

Recurring Revenue & Diversified End Markets

A business model built on long-term contracts and partnerships, plus exposure to municipal water, industrial, food and pharma markets, creates stable recurring revenue and reduces cyclicality. Diversification improves resilience across economic cycles.

Healthy Margins and Cash Generation

Sustained gross and net margins point to pricing power and effective cost control in specialty chemicals. Combined with reported strong operating cash flow coverage, these traits support internal funding for maintenance capex and selective investments over the medium term.

Negative Factors

Negative Free Cash Flow Growth

Despite positive operating cash flow, a negative trend in free cash flow growth can strain the firm’s ability to reinvest, pay dividends, or pursue M&A without tapping reserves or debt. Persistent negative FCF growth could erode financial flexibility long-term.

Declining Operating Efficiency

A falling EBIT margin suggests rising operating costs or weaker pricing that may compress operating leverage. If this trend persists, it can reduce profitability and cash available for strategic initiatives, requiring management action to restore efficiency.

Management Succession Risk

Loss of a long-tenured general counsel poses governance and continuity risk, particularly for contracts, compliance, and regulatory matters. Although a planned handover through May 2026 mitigates disruption, the eventual replacement could alter legal oversight or institutional knowledge.

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 generates revenue through the sale of chemicals and related services across its two main segments. The Water Treatment segment is a significant contributor, offering products such as water disinfectants, coagulants, and corrosion inhibitors to municipalities and industrial customers. The Industrial segment provides specialty chemicals used in manufacturing processes, including food-grade and pharmaceutical applications. Hawkins also benefits from long-term contracts and partnerships with key customers, which provide a steady stream of recurring revenue. Additionally, the company engages in bulk chemical distribution, allowing it to optimize logistics and pricing strategies, further enhancing its profitability.

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

Hawkins Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 125.00
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Positive
• STOCH: Positive

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 125 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 150.02, below the 50-day MA of 143.10, and below the 200-day MA of 148.96, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -2.18 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 25.27 is Positive, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 8.15 is Positive, 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	73 Outperform	$3.77B	12.00	21.98%	2.72%	-7.04%	-11.28%
PRM	64 Neutral	$3.87B	62.07	7.39%	―	19.12%	―
FUL	63 Neutral	$3.26B	21.89	7.93%	1.54%	-1.30%	-36.69%
AVNT	63 Neutral	$3.31B	29.32	4.79%	3.48%	1.03%	-24.57%
Sector *	61 Neutral	$10.43B	7.12	-0.05%	2.87%	2.86%	-36.73%
HWKN	61 Neutral	$2.72B	31.60	16.89%	0.50%	11.86%	1.99%
OLN	53 Neutral	$2.37B	-58.36	-2.18%	3.91%	4.68%	-62.80%

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.