Carpenter Technology Shares Hit 52-Week High: What's Aiding It?

Carpenter Technology Corporation CRS shares scaled a new 52-week high of $252.63 on Friday before closing the session lower at $248.74.CRS has a market capitalization of $12.4 billion. The company’s shares have skyrocketed 140.4% in the past year, outperforming the industry’s growth of 57.1% and the S&P 500 index’s rise of 13.4%.  Image Source: Zacks Investment Research What’s Aiding Carpenter Technology’s Stock Performance?Solid Backlog Levels: In the third quarter of fiscal 2025, Carpenter Technology’s backlog was high, led by strong booking growth. The company expects continued growth across its end-use markets, especially in Aerospace and Defense, which is expected to boost its fiscal 2025 results. Backed by solid backlog levels, the company's near and long-term outlooks for each end-use market were positive.CRS achieved solid earnings improvements, courtesy of ongoing improvements in the product mix by shifting to more complicated, high-value products, increasing operating efficiencies and pricing actions in the third quarter of fiscal 2025. In the quarter, the company achieved a record adjusted operating income of $138 million, marking its most profitable third quarter on record.Strong Growth in End-Markets: The company has been witnessing broad-based demand recovery in Aerospace and Defense, which will continue through the remainder of fiscal 2025. Aerospace is gaining from the pickup in global travel.Demand continues to accelerate across all the aerospace submarkets as the supply chain ramps up to meet steadily increasing travel demand. Also, additional capacity at its Athens facility will position the company to capture incremental growth in aerospace. In Defense, the company is gaining from increased investments with customers in the development of next-gen programs and platforms.The company previously expected to be able to double its operating income by fiscal 2027 from the fiscal 2019 reported figure of $241 million. However, driven by strong performance and ongoing productivity improvements, Carpenter Technology stated at the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 that it expected to achieve this feat in fiscal 2025 and provided a target of $460-$500 million in operating income for fiscal 2025. Currently, this guidance has been raised to $520-$527 million.Compared with fiscal 2024, the mid-point of the range suggests growth of 48%. The upside will primarily be driven by higher prices, improved product mix and increased volumes. The increase in operating income will provide a significant cash flow over the next several years, adding value to the company’s stockholders.Solid Balance Sheet: CRS’s financial position remains strong, which gives it the strategic flexibility to strengthen its long-term growth profile by investing in emerging technologies like additive manufacturing and soft magnetics while also providing direct returns to shareholders through quarterly dividends. Carpenter Technology’s total liquidity (including cash and available credit facility borrowings) was $500.4 million at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2025. This consisted of $151.5 million of cash in hand and $348.9 million of available borrowings under the credit facility. Its long-term debt was $695 million at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2025. The company’s board of directors authorized a share repurchase program of up to $400 million.CRS’ Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to ConsiderCarpenter Technology currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Some other top-ranked stocks from the basic materials space are SSR Mining Inc. SSRM, Alamos Gold Inc. AGI and Hawkins, Inc. HWKN. SSR Mining currently sports a Zacks Rank #1, and Alamos Gold and Hawkins carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.SSR Mining has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 58.8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for SSRM’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $1.14 per share, implying year-over-year growth of 307%. SSR Mining stock skyrocketed 147.9% in the last year.Alamos Gold has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 1.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for AGI’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $1.24 per share, indicating year-over-year growth of 55%. Alamos Gold shares surged 66% last year.Hawkins has an average trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 8.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HWKN’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $4.37 per share, indicating year-over-year growth of 8.4%. Hawkins shares jumped 55.5% last year.Zacks Names #1 Semiconductor StockIt's only 1/9,000th the size of NVIDIA which skyrocketed more than +800% since we recommended it. NVIDIA is still strong, but our new top chip stock has much more room to boom.With strong earnings growth and an expanding customer base, it's positioned to feed the rampant demand for Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Internet of Things. Global semiconductor manufacturing is projected to explode from $452 billion in 2021 to $803 billion by 2028.See This Stock Now for Free >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Carpenter Technology Corporation (CRS): Free Stock Analysis Report Alamos Gold Inc. (AGI): Free Stock Analysis Report Silver Standard Resources Inc. (SSRM): Free Stock Analysis Report Hawkins, Inc. (HWKN): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks