Hawkins (HWKN) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $3.08B
• Dividend Yield: 0.5%
• Average Volume (3M): 142.56K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 37.7
• 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: 89,124
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 142,563
• 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: 1.09
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 3.16
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 13.81
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 19.35
• 1Y Price Target: $200.00
• Price Target Upside: 34.14% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Moderate Buy
• Number of Analyst Covering: 1
• EPS Forecast (FY): 4
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $1.08B

• Rating: 61 Neutral
• Price Target: $157.00 ▲(5.30% 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 over multiple years demonstrates broad market adoption across water treatment and industrial end-markets. Growing revenue scale supports pricing power, distribution leverage, and the ability to invest in operations or targeted M&A, strengthening long-term competitive position.

Improving margins and profitability

Material margin improvement signals better product mix, pricing discipline, and operational efficiencies. Higher and stable operating margins support durable earnings quality, improved return on equity, and greater resilience to input-cost pressure across business cycles.

Strong operating cash generation

Operating cash flow consistently exceeds net income and positive free cash flow provides internal funding for capex, dividends, and strategic initiatives. Strong absolute cash generation enhances financial flexibility and reduces reliance on external financing over the medium term.

Negative Factors

Higher TTM leverage spike

A notable uptick in TTM leverage may reflect working-capital strain or acquisition funding and reduces financial flexibility. Elevated debt increases interest exposure and limits capacity for opportunistic investments or cushioning during demand slowdowns unless deleveraging follows.

Volatile free cash flow conversion

Inconsistent FCF conversion indicates cash generation is sensitive to working-capital swings or reinvestment timing. That variability can complicate capital allocation, constrain sustainable dividend or buyback policies, and increase reliance on short-term financing in weaker quarters.

Senior legal counsel retirement

Planned departure of a 17-year general counsel removes institutional legal and regulatory expertise. While transition support is provided, the change creates near-term governance and contract-management risk that could affect compliance, negotiations, or transaction execution until replacement integrates.

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	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: Positive
• Last Price: 149.10
• 50DMA: Positive
• 100DMA: Positive
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Negative
• RSI: Neutral
• STOCH: Neutral

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For HWKN, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 149.1 is above the 20-day moving average (MA) of 140.78, above the 50-day MA of 145.95, and below the 200-day MA of 150.69, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of 1.04 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 56.65 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 71.91 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for HWKN.

Hawkins Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
CBT	74 Outperform	$3.98B	13.36	20.88%	2.72%	-7.04%	-11.28%
FUL	63 Neutral	$3.53B	23.94	7.93%	1.54%	-1.30%	-36.69%
Sector *	61 Neutral	$10.43B	7.12	-0.05%	2.87%	2.86%	-36.73%
HWKN	61 Neutral	$3.08B	37.69	16.89%	0.50%	11.86%	1.99%
AVNT	59 Neutral	$3.75B	46.03	3.49%	3.48%	1.03%	-24.57%
OLN	52 Neutral	$2.89B	-66.89	-2.22%	3.91%	4.68%	-62.80%
PRM	50 Neutral	$3.48B	-16.42	-18.02%	―	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.