What Happened?
Shares of aerospace and defense company Woodward (NASDAQ: WWD) jumped 2.6% in the afternoon session after a softened tone from President Donald Trump on U.S.-China relations boosted investor sentiment. The positive shift followed a weekend post on Truth Social where Trump stated, "Don't worry about China, it will all be fine!" and expressed a desire to help rather than hurt the country's economy. This statement provided significant relief to markets that had ended the prior week with steep losses. In response, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.2%, the S&P 500 gained 1.6%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1.3% higher, as investors' fears of escalating trade tensions subsided.
The shares closed the day at $253.62, up 2.6% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Woodward’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 4 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 11 months ago when the stock gained 12.4% on the news that the company reported third-quarter results that blew past analysts' revenue, EBITDA and earnings expectations. Aerospace sales were a key contributor to the strong performance, up 22% year on year. Looking ahead, management provided full-year sales guidance in line with expectations; the company raised full-year EPS guidance, which is more promising when combined with the solid outlook for the Aerospace segment, particularly in defense and commercial aftermarket activity. However, challenges in the Industrial sector, including deteriorating conditions in China, highlight the uneven recovery across segments. Zooming out, we think this was still a decent quarter.
Woodward is up 48.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $254.23 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $266.10 from July 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Woodward’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,987.
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