# Hawkins (HWKN.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/HWKN

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:29:12.568Z. Financial observations: FY1997–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $131.82 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $47.79 per share, central $61.91 per share, high $72.38 per share. Buy at or below the central value $61.91 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:29:12.568Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 6.3% at the stated quote. About 6.3% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 2 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 2

- Years with a net loss: 1

- Operating margin variation: 0.47×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.08×

- FY2018: -0.02×

- FY2019: 0.07×

- FY2020: 0.08×

- FY2021: 0.09×

- FY2022: 0.09×

- FY2023: 0.09×

- FY2024: 0.11×

- FY2025: 0.12×

- FY2026: 0.11×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC, median of available years: 14.1%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 11.4%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -1.0 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 19.6%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 20.6%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 4.3%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 11.3%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 11.6%

- FY2018: -3.9%

- FY2019: 11.4%

- FY2020: 12.7%

- FY2021: 13.6%

- FY2022: 14.6%

- FY2023: 16.6%

- FY2024: 19.2%

- FY2025: 18.4%

- FY2026: 15.1%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.98×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $344M

- Net income, five-year total: $353M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 61.5%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -0.3 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -2.3 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 15.1%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: 1.00×

- FY2023: 1.00×

- FY2024: 0.89×

- FY2025: 1.00×

- FY2026: 1.00×

### management: pass

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2026 (9 years)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 11.4% vs 18.4%

- Per-share earnings: 0.86 to 3.91 (three-year endpoint medians)

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -0.1%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -0.4%

- Market cap gain: $2.7B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $334M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -0.1%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -0.4%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2026

- Per-share value growth: 20.9%

- Per-share value change: $3.05

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.86

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $3.91

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.62

- Average buyback yield: 0.8%

- Buyback history: 9 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $344M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $460M

- ROIC, first three-year median: 11.4%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 18.4%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: $1.06

- FY2018: -$0.43

- FY2019: $1.14

- FY2020: $1.33

- FY2021: $1.93

- FY2022: $2.44

- FY2023: $2.86

- FY2024: $3.59

- FY2025: $4.03

- FY2026: $3.91

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -6.3%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.94×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 5.9%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 1.77×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.85×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -5.3%

- FY2018: -9.3%

- FY2019: -6.1%

- FY2020: -7.7%

- FY2021: -0.6%

- FY2022: 1.5%

- FY2023: -2.9%

- FY2024: -12.5%

- FY2025: -3.5%

- FY2026: -6.3%

## Holders

- [Francois Rochon](https://gigainvestors.com/GC): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Andrew Adams](https://gigainvestors.com/MPF): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 28% since Sep 2025 · "Hawkins (HWKN) Margin Decline Spurs Valuation Doubts Against Defensive Growth Narrative" (finance.yahoo.com, Oct 2025) · sales +11.2%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:55.331Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 13.6% a year for ten years

- 2025-10-31: Hawkins (HWKN) Margin Decline Spurs Valuation Doubts Against Defensive Growth Narrative ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hawkins-hwkn-margin-decline-spurs-122338293.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +11.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46250/000004625026000018/hwkn-20260329.htm; observed 2026-05-13.

- FY2017: $484M 

- FY2018: $504M 

- FY2019: $556M 

- FY2020: $540M 

- FY2021: $597M 

- FY2022: $775M 

- FY2023: $935M 

- FY2024: $919M 

- FY2025: $974M 

- FY2026: $1.1B 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 20.6%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46250/000004625026000018/hwkn-20260329.htm; observed 2026-05-13.

- FY2017: 20.3% 

- FY2018: 17.2% 

- FY2019: 17.2% 

- FY2020: 18.7% 

- FY2021: 20.7% 

- FY2022: 18.9% 

- FY2023: 17.7% 

- FY2024: 21.1% 

- FY2025: 21.8% 

- FY2026: 20.6% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in specialty chemicals; annual sales are USD 1.1 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46250/000004625026000018/hwkn-20260329.htm (filed 2026-05-13); FY2026: revenue 1083696000; grossProfit 223755000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); HWKN.US: Hawkins, Inc. operates as a water treatment and specialty ingredients company in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Water Treatment, Food and Health Sciences, and Industrial Solutions. The Water Treatment segment provides chemicals, filtration media and systems, equipment, services and solutions for potable water, municipal and industrial wastewater, industrial process water, non-residential swimming pool water, and agricultural water. This segment also sells and services equipment, including tanks, valves, and pumps. The Food and Health Sciences segment provide ingredient distribution, processing, and formulation solutions, such as base chemistry, acid-based reactions, minerals, vitamins and amino acids, excipients, botanicals and herbs, sweeteners and enzymes, fertilizers, and food-grade and pharmaceutical salts and ingredients to nutrition, food, pharmaceutical, and agricultural markets. The Industrial Solutions segment offers industrial chemicals, products, and services such as acids and alkalis, liquid caustic soda, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, urea, phosphoric acid, aqua ammonia, and potassium hydroxide to industrial manufacturing, chemical processing, electronics, energy, plating, and surface finishing industries. It also repackages water treatment chemicals and bulk industrial chemicals; and performs custom blending of chemicals. Hawkins, Inc. was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Roseville, Minnesota.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 20.6% to 21.8% during 2024–26; it earns 14.1% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 21.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 21.8%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46250/000004625026000018/hwkn-20260329.htm (filed 2026-05-13); FY2026: grossProfit / revenue = 20.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,0.1164202457111644],[2018,-0.03879674912192046],[2019,0.11426925299481203],[2020,0.1266460351686572],[2021,0.13571692318788978],[2022,0.14644680745526636],[2023,0.16630130782409938],[2024,0.19199990120427873],[2025,0.1842533748516803],[2026,0.15101908233176753]]; median 0.14108186532157807. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Spends 7% of cash earnings on expansion; earns 61.5% on new investment.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2017: growth capex 741000; upkeep 20875000; owner earnings 22555000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.032853025936599424.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 12618000; owner earnings 33571000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 24549000; owner earnings 25402000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 20794000; owner earnings 42855000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2022: growth capex 4383000; upkeep 24129000; owner earnings 51542000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.08503744519033021.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2023: growth capex 20881000; upkeep 27440000; owner earnings 60041000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.34777901767125796.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 40151000; owner earnings 67015000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); FY2025: growth capex 1148000; upkeep 39948000; owner earnings 84345000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.013610765309146957.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46250/000004625026000018/hwkn-20260329.htm (filed 2026-05-13); FY2026: growth capex 5697000; upkeep 52542000; owner earnings 81548000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.0698606955412763.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); Incremental return on capital 0.6154331225095292, from the economics test's unchanged annual inputs.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); Dividend observations: [[2017,8683000],[2018,9161000],[2019,11975000],[2020,9825000],[2021,10029000],[2022,11056000],[2023,12001000],[2024,13238000],[2025,14635000],[2026,15665000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46250/000004625026000018/hwkn-20260329.htm (filed 2026-05-13); FY2026: cash repurchases 3028000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 4.2% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); HWKN.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 4.173 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 13.6% yearly over ten years; actual growth was 16.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-05-13); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.1840975650861355. Price 131.82; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2016 owner earnings/share 0.8575783684731069 → FY2026 3.9089515508204924. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $20.18 per share

- 2016-11: $24.28 per share

- 2016-12: $26.98 per share

- 2017-01: $26.83 per share

- 2017-02: $24.73 per share

- 2017-03: $24.50 per share

- 2017-04: $25.55 per share

- 2017-05: $23.53 per share

- 2017-06: $23.18 per share

- 2017-07: $22.48 per share

- 2017-08: $17.83 per share

- 2017-09: $20.40 per share

- 2017-10: $19.05 per share

- 2017-11: $19.18 per share

- 2017-12: $17.60 per share

- 2018-01: $17.65 per share

- 2018-02: $16.75 per share

- 2018-03: $17.58 per share

- 2018-04: $16.25 per share

- 2018-05: $15.68 per share

- 2018-06: $17.68 per share

- 2018-07: $18.65 per share

- 2018-08: $20.65 per share

- 2018-09: $20.73 per share

- 2018-10: $16.83 per share

- 2018-11: $20.87 per share

- 2018-12: $20.48 per share

- 2019-01: $20.75 per share

- 2019-02: $20.61 per share

- 2019-03: $18.42 per share

- 2019-04: $18.46 per share

- 2019-05: $17.78 per share

- 2019-06: $21.71 per share

- 2019-07: $21.84 per share

- 2019-08: $22.18 per share

- 2019-09: $21.25 per share

- 2019-10: $21.38 per share

- 2019-11: $20.66 per share

- 2019-12: $22.91 per share

- 2020-01: $20.89 per share

- 2020-02: $17.88 per share

- 2020-03: $17.80 per share

- 2020-04: $18.72 per share

- 2020-05: $21.45 per share

- 2020-06: $21.29 per share

- 2020-07: $25.77 per share

- 2020-08: $25.11 per share

- 2020-09: $23.05 per share

- 2020-10: $23.36 per share

- 2020-11: $25.09 per share

- 2020-12: $26.16 per share

- 2021-01: $27.47 per share

- 2021-02: $31.30 per share

- 2021-03: $33.52 per share

- 2021-04: $33.35 per share

- 2021-05: $34.02 per share

- 2021-06: $32.75 per share

- 2021-07: $36.31 per share

- 2021-08: $37.88 per share

- 2021-09: $34.88 per share

- 2021-10: $36.67 per share

- 2021-11: $33.18 per share

- 2021-12: $39.45 per share

- 2022-01: $37.32 per share

- 2022-02: $45.26 per share

- 2022-03: $45.90 per share

- 2022-04: $37.28 per share

- 2022-05: $36.16 per share

- 2022-06: $36.03 per share

- 2022-07: $39.75 per share

- 2022-08: $38.32 per share

- 2022-09: $38.99 per share

- 2022-10: $45.03 per share

- 2022-11: $41.60 per share

- 2022-12: $38.60 per share

- 2023-01: $39.00 per share

- 2023-02: $40.67 per share

- 2023-03: $43.78 per share

- 2023-04: $40.34 per share

- 2023-05: $46.94 per share

- 2023-06: $47.69 per share

- 2023-07: $46.75 per share

- 2023-08: $62.19 per share

- 2023-09: $58.85 per share

- 2023-10: $57.43 per share

- 2023-11: $61.44 per share

- 2023-12: $70.42 per share

- 2024-01: $66.57 per share

- 2024-02: $70.25 per share

- 2024-03: $76.80 per share

- 2024-04: $75.77 per share

- 2024-05: $87.32 per share

- 2024-06: $91.00 per share

- 2024-07: $103.90 per share

- 2024-08: $126.67 per share

- 2024-09: $127.47 per share

- 2024-10: $106.90 per share

- 2024-11: $134.51 per share

- 2024-12: $122.67 per share

- 2025-01: $106.91 per share

- 2025-02: $104.99 per share

- 2025-03: $105.92 per share

- 2025-04: $121.78 per share

- 2025-05: $133.49 per share

- 2025-06: $142.10 per share

- 2025-07: $163.28 per share

- 2025-08: $167.33 per share

- 2025-09: $182.72 per share

- 2025-10: $141.85 per share

- 2025-11: $130.02 per share

- 2025-12: $142.06 per share

- 2026-01: $130.25 per share

- 2026-02: $149.10 per share

- 2026-03: $153.60 per share

- 2026-04: $167.45 per share

- 2026-05: $154.77 per share

- 2026-06: $142.10 per share

- 2026-07: $129.22 per share

- 2026-08: $120.27 per share

- 2026-09: $126.00 per share

- 2026-10: $131.82 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2017: low $13.39 per share, central $17.66 per share, high $20.67 per share

- FY2018: low $12.07 per share, central $13.74 per share, high $15.95 per share

- FY2019: low $13.72 per share, central $16.25 per share, high $18.91 per share

- FY2020: low $13.35 per share, central $15.71 per share, high $18.28 per share

- FY2021: low $15.68 per share, central $19.48 per share, high $22.72 per share

- FY2022: low $27.10 per share, central $34.77 per share, high $40.64 per share

- FY2023: low $36.22 per share, central $48.13 per share, high $56.34 per share

- FY2024: low $36.00 per share, central $46.62 per share, high $54.51 per share

- FY2025: low $41.22 per share, central $53.25 per share, high $62.26 per share

- FY2026: low $46.85 per share, central $60.69 per share, high $70.96 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/46250/000004625026000018/hwkn-20260329.htm); period 2026-03-29, filed 2026-05-13.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.