# How Howmet Aerospace (HWM) compares with the whole market and its popular alternatives

> Source: EasyCompare research, https://easycompare.io/research/hwm
> Data as of October 20, 2026. Total returns include reinvested dividends. Past performance does not predict future results; nothing here is investment advice.

Built by QuantCommons' quantitative engine, this page is about relative opportunity, not data on HWM alone. It places HWM (Howmet Aerospace Inc.) against 20+ popular alternatives, its neighboring categories and the entire market of over 10,000 U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, and surfaces what has done better on consistent outperformance, return for the risk taken, behavior in real market crashes and diversification. The result is a clearer view of where HWM stands in the market, and of the alternatives worth a closer look.

Period covered: HWM's full trading record, from October 1986 through September 2026. All returns include reinvested dividends. Data as of October 20, 2026.

## Key findings

- **Right now:** Over the past 6 months, HWM fell 17.1% while the S&P 500 rose 9.1%. HWM is 27.7% below its high, bear-market territory, while the S&P 500 sits 1.3% below a record.
- **Stock or market?:** The weakness is HWM's own: it fell 22.1% over the past 3 months while the aerospace & defense ETF ITA (iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF) fell 10.0%. The S&P 500 rose 3.9%. Its aerospace & defense peers did not move as one over the past 3 months: RTX fell 0.2%, while CRS (Carpenter Technology) fell 32.8%.
- **Past 1 to 3 years:** HWM has trailed the market, rising 10.2% over the past year against 15.8% for the S&P 500 and 17.9% for the Nasdaq 100. Even so, it finished ahead of the S&P 500 in both 2024 and 2025.
- **Long term:** HWM turned $10,000 into $113,000 over the past decade, against $42,100 in the S&P 500. HWM's 10-year return of 1,028% puts it ahead of 95% of the stocks worth at least $300 million with that much history. The S&P 500 returned 321%.
- **In a crash:** HWM fell harder than the S&P 500 in six of seven sell-offs. The 2022 bear market was the exception: HWM fell 20.2%, less than the S&P 500's 24.5%.
- **Diversification:** Against the S&P 500, HWM has a correlation of 0.55 over 5 years, more closely than 82% of stocks worth at least $300 million. Next to an index fund it is some diversification, but not a hedge. Over 10 years, HWM's beta versus the S&P 500 was 1.41: in the S&P 500's rising months it gained 1.4 times as much as the index, and in falling months it lost 1.2 times as much.
- **Better options**
  - **Popular alternatives:** ATI was ahead of HWM in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (42.9% volatility against 32.5%).
  - **Whole market:** Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than HWM with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## How much would $10,000 in HWM have grown?

This chart tracks a hypothetical $10,000 investment in HWM over the past 29 years, with dividends reinvested, alongside the same amount in the S&P 500, investments that ended ahead of HWM over the same span and HWM's popular alternatives, among those that traded for the entire period.

- $10,000 invested in HWM at the end of September 1997 would have grown to $100,078 by September 2026, less than the $132,907 it would have become in SPY, an S&P 500 fund.
- Six of the eight other investments on the chart ended ahead of HWM, and ATRO finished highest, at $1,237,286.

## HWM at a glance

This section summarizes the key facts about the stock, its returns over periods from one to ten years and the risk it has carried, with dividends reinvested throughout.

- HWM is still 27.7% below its all-time high.
- HWM's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 87.6%, from July 2007 to March 2009. It took about 15 years from the low to climb back to its old high.
- Over 29 full calendar years, HWM's best was 1999, when it returned 133%, and its worst was 2008, when it lost 67.4%. It lost money in 11 of those years.

- Type: Stock, Industrials (Aerospace & Defense)
- Trading since: October 17, 1986
- Market value: $84B
- Volatility (5 years): 32.5%; Sharpe ratio: 1.36
- Worst decline ever: −87.6%, from July 13, 2007 to March 6, 2009; back at its high by May 2, 2024

| Period | HWM total return |
| --- | --- |
| 1 month | −6.9% |
| 3 months | −22.1% |
| 6 months | −17.1% |
| year to date | +0.1% |
| 1 year | +10.2% |
| 3 years | +391% |
| 5 years | +594% |
| 10 years | +1,028% |

## HWM against the whole market

Where HWM ranks among every stock and fund, and what across the market has done better.

### How does HWM rank among all stocks?

This section ranks HWM on return, volatility, risk-adjusted return and worst decline against every stock worth at least $300 million with enough history.

- On return for the risk taken (the Sharpe ratio), HWM ranks in the top 1% of the 2,893 stocks worth at least $300 million.

| Measure | HWM | Rank |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1-year return | +10.2% | 1,581 of 3,287 (top 49%) |
| 3-year return | +391% | 153 of 3,017 (top 6%) |
| 5-year return | +594% | 52 of 2,893 (top 2%) |
| 10-year return | +1,028% | 102 of 2,202 (top 5%) |
| Volatility, 5 years | 32.5% | 958 of 2,893 (top 34%) |
| Sharpe ratio, 5 years | 1.36 | 8 of 2,893 (top 1%) |
| Worst decline, past 10 years | −68.9% | 1,257 of 2,187 (top 58%) |

### What has beaten HWM on both return and risk?

Each dot is an investment, placed by how much it earned a year over the past 5 years (higher is better) and how much its price swung, its volatility (further left is calmer).

- None of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than HWM over the past 5 years with less volatility: nothing sits in the green region.

### Is there a better investment than HWM?

The table below lists investments that beat HWM over the past 5 years on at least one of these measures: a higher annual return with lower volatility, a higher annual return at similar volatility, a similar return with lower volatility, a higher Sharpe ratio with a smaller worst decline, a higher total return in most periods from 3 months to 10 years, or smaller losses in recent market crashes.

- Among HWM's popular alternatives, ATI was ahead of HWM in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (42.9% volatility against 32.5%).
- Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than HWM with less volatility over the past 5 years.

## HWM against its popular alternatives

The investments people most often weigh against HWM, compared period by period and year by year.

### How do HWM's risk and return compare with its alternatives?

This map plots each investment's annual return over the past 5 years against its volatility, the size of its typical price swings.

- None of the 19 popular alternatives earned more than HWM over the past 5 years with smaller price swings, so every higher return on the map came with a bumpier ride.
- Over the past 5 years, HWM returned 47.3% a year, more than the S&P 500's 12.7%, with higher volatility (32.5% against 17.1%).

### Has HWM consistently beaten its popular alternatives?

This section compares HWM with the investments people most often weigh against it, checking each one over eight periods from one month to ten years.

- Only one of the 21 popular alternatives, ATI, outperformed HWM in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes.

| Investment | 1Y return | 3Y return | 5Y return | 10Y return | Periods ahead of HWM | Verdict | Sharpe |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HWM: Howmet Aerospace Inc. (this page) | +10.2% | +391% | +594% | +1,028% |  |  | 1.36 |
| ATI: ATI Inc. | +125% | +415% | +1,008% | +929% | 5/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term | consistent | 1.34 |
| CRS: Carpenter Technology Corporation | +54.5% | +521% | +1,082% | +1,021% | 2/5 short-term, 2/3 long-term |  | 1.30 |
| DCO: Ducommun Incorporated | +74.1% | +261% | +236% | +706% | 5/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.88 |
| MOG-A: Moog Inc. | +77.4% | +228% | +375% | +595% | 5/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.14 |
| [RTX](https://easycompare.io/research/rtx): RTX Corporation | +22.1% | +183% | +135% | +317% | 5/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.83 |
| [LMT](https://easycompare.io/research/lmt): Lockheed Martin Corporation | +11.3% | +33.8% | +69.0% | +204% | 5/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.56 |
| HXL: Hexcel Corporation | +45.6% | +44.9% | +62.4% | +122% | 5/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.46 |
| WWD: Woodward, Inc. | +29.1% | +165% | +191% | +488% | 4/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.82 |
| ATRO: Astronics Corporation | +55.4% | +396% | +453% | +147% | 4/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.89 |
| [DAL](https://easycompare.io/research/dal): Delta Air Lines, Inc. | +25.5% | +146% | +97.6% | +109% | 4/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.54 |
| [HEI](https://easycompare.io/research/hei): HEICO Corporation | −2.4% | +93.4% | +122% | +809% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.71 |
| [TDG](https://easycompare.io/research/tdg): TransDigm Group Incorporated | −12.2% | +62.5% | +114% | +543% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.69 |
| [GE](https://easycompare.io/research/ge): GE Aerospace | −0.4% | +261% | +366% | +139% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.15 |
| TXT: Textron Inc. | −6.3% | +1.9% | +4.1% | +97.9% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.17 |
| [BA](https://easycompare.io/research/ba): The Boeing Company | −12.2% | +5.8% | −11.9% | +52.4% | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.12 |
| LOAR: Loar Holdings Inc. | −23.9% | — | — | — | 3/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | — |
| [NOC](https://easycompare.io/research/noc): Northrop Grumman Corporation | −9.8% | +15.6% | +44.5% | +188% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.41 |
| UAL: United Airlines Holdings, Inc. | −3.5% | +179% | +113% | +72.8% | 2/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.55 |
| BWXT: BWX Technologies, Inc. | −35.0% | +79.8% | +145% | +289% | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 0.70 |
| KRMN: Karman Holdings Inc. | −55.2% | — | — | — | 1/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | — |
| CW: Curtiss-Wright Corporation | −11.6% | +148% | +283% | +512% | 0/5 short-term, 0/3 long-term |  | 1.08 |

### How did HWM do year by year?

This table shows each investment's total return in every full calendar year since 1997, along with where HWM ranked among its popular alternatives each year.

- HWM finished ahead of the S&P 500 in 12 of its 29 full calendar years, and ahead of it in each of the last four.
- Among its popular alternatives, TDG came out ahead of HWM most often, in 12 of the 19 years both traded.
- Ranked against its popular alternatives each year, HWM finished in the top quarter in ten of 29 years and in the bottom quarter in ten. In 2025, it ranked 3 of 21.

| Year | HWM | SPY |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2025 | +87.9% | +17.7% |
| 2024 | +103% | +24.9% |
| 2023 | +37.8% | +26.2% |
| 2022 | +24.2% | −18.2% |
| 2021 | +11.7% | +28.7% |
| 2020 | −7.2% | +18.3% |
| 2019 | +83.6% | +31.2% |
| 2018 | −37.5% | −4.6% |
| 2017 | +48.4% | +21.7% |
| 2016 | −11.5% | +12.0% |

## Risk and diversification

How HWM has fallen, how it held up in crashes beside the S&P 500 and its popular alternatives, and what moves independently of it.

### What were HWM's worst declines?

A drawdown is the decline from a peak to the lowest point before a new high.

- In all three of HWM's worst declines, the S&P 500 held up better over the same dates.
- Not every decline was the market's doing: HWM fell 43.6% from January to September 2000, while the S&P 500 rose 3.0%.
- The slowest recovery came after HWM fell 87.6% from July 2007 to March 2009; it did not regain that peak until May 2024, 15 years later.

| Decline | Peak | Low | Back at the high | SPY over the same dates | Market event |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| −87.6% | July 13, 2007 | March 6, 2009 | May 2, 2024 | −54.0% | 2008 financial crisis |
| −58.3% | May 21, 2001 | October 9, 2002 | April 25, 2007 | −39.4% | dot-com bust |
| −46.7% | October 5, 1987 | October 26, 1987 | January 20, 1989 | — |  |
| −43.6% | January 5, 2000 | September 27, 2000 | April 26, 2001 | +3.0% | dot-com bust |
| −32.9% | October 6, 1989 | November 8, 1990 | March 3, 1992 | — |  |

### How did HWM do in stock market crashes?

This section measures how far HWM, the S&P 500 and each alternative fell from peak to trough during every major market crash since 2000.

- HWM fell further than the S&P 500 in eight of the ten crashes it has traded through. The clearest case was the 2008 financial crisis, when HWM fell 87.3% and the S&P 500 fell 55.2%.
- Among its popular alternatives, LMT held up best, falling less than HWM in nine of the ten crashes they both traded through.

| Crash | Dates | HWM fall | SPY fall |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Dot-com bust | March 10, 2000 to October 9, 2002 | −58.3% | −47.5% |
| Global financial crisis | October 9, 2007 to March 9, 2009 | −87.3% | −55.2% |
| Flash crash | May 6, 2010 to May 7, 2010 | 0.0% | −1.5% |
| Euro debt crisis | July 22, 2011 to October 3, 2011 | −43.5% | −17.9% |
| China devaluation & oil rout | August 10, 2015 to February 11, 2016 | −38.4% | −12.8% |
| Volmageddon | February 2, 2018 to February 9, 2018 | −16.0% | −6.5% |
| Q4 2018 selloff | September 21, 2018 to December 24, 2018 | −30.8% | −19.3% |
| COVID crash | February 19, 2020 to March 23, 2020 | −64.8% | −33.7% |
| 2022 bear market | January 4, 2022 to October 12, 2022 | −20.2% | −24.5% |
| SVB / regional bank stress | March 8, 2023 to March 13, 2023 | −8.5% | −3.4% |

### How closely does HWM move with the S&P 500?

Upside capture measures how much of the S&P 500's gains an investment kept in the months the market rose, and downside capture how much of its losses it took in the months the market fell.

- Over the past 10 years, HWM captured 142% of the S&P 500's gains in rising months and 115% of its losses in falling months, with a beta of 1.41. It amplified the market's moves in both directions.
- Only NOC, HEI and CW had a higher capture ratio (upside capture divided by downside capture) than HWM's 1.23, out of 19 popular alternatives with the same record.
- HEI took just 85% of the S&P 500's losses, against 115% for HWM, while still keeping 118% of its gains.

Measured over the past 10 years of monthly returns against SPY.

| Investment | Upside capture | Downside capture | Beta |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| HWM: Howmet Aerospace Inc. (this page) | 142% | 115% | 1.41 |
| ATI: ATI Inc. | 141% | 116% | 1.37 |
| CRS: Carpenter Technology Corporation | 155% | 137% | 1.68 |
| DCO: Ducommun Incorporated | 128% | 112% | 1.32 |
| MOG-A: Moog Inc. | 119% | 101% | 1.20 |
| [RTX](https://easycompare.io/research/rtx): RTX Corporation | 94.0% | 91.0% | 0.89 |
| [LMT](https://easycompare.io/research/lmt): Lockheed Martin Corporation | 58.0% | 48.0% | 0.52 |
| HXL: Hexcel Corporation | 94.0% | 135% | 1.27 |
| WWD: Woodward, Inc. | 111% | 100% | 1.27 |
| ATRO: Astronics Corporation | 134% | 194% | 1.59 |
| [DAL](https://easycompare.io/research/dal): Delta Air Lines, Inc. | 107% | 149% | 1.34 |
| [HEI](https://easycompare.io/research/hei): HEICO Corporation | 118% | 85.0% | 1.15 |
| [TDG](https://easycompare.io/research/tdg): TransDigm Group Incorporated | 112% | 97.0% | 1.25 |
| [GE](https://easycompare.io/research/ge): GE Aerospace | 85.0% | 106% | 1.21 |
| TXT: Textron Inc. | 103% | 155% | 1.33 |
| [BA](https://easycompare.io/research/ba): The Boeing Company | 93.0% | 152% | 1.42 |
| [NOC](https://easycompare.io/research/noc): Northrop Grumman Corporation | 49.0% | 32.0% | 0.35 |
| UAL: United Airlines Holdings, Inc. | 107% | 158% | 1.41 |
| BWXT: BWX Technologies, Inc. | 82.0% | 68.0% | 0.87 |
| CW: Curtiss-Wright Corporation | 103% | 77.0% | 1.20 |

### What diversifies HWM?

Correlation measures how closely two investments move together, on a scale from 1 (in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to -1 (in opposite directions).

- Moving a fifth of the money in HWM into MPC would have cut the portfolio's volatility by 14% over the past 5 years and raised its annual return (+49.0% for HWM alone, +50.8% for the mix).
- Among large ETFs, DXJ, FTLS and SMH have moved largely independently of HWM over the past 5 years, with correlations of 0.49 or lower, and each still earned a positive 5-year return.
- FIX made money in seven of the 11 calendar years in which HWM lost money.

| Investment | Correlation with HWM | 5Y return | Volatility | Sharpe | Rose in HWM's 11 down years |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| DXJ: WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund | 0.38 | +225% | 19.1% | 1.34 | 3 of 11 |
| FTLS: First Trust Long/Short Equity ETF | 0.49 | +62.9% | 10.4% | 0.99 | 3 of 11 |
| [SMH](https://easycompare.io/research/smh): VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 0.34 | +323% | 36.9% | 0.97 | 5 of 11 |
| [GLD](https://easycompare.io/research/gld): SPDR Gold Shares | 0.19 | +126% | 18.9% | 0.96 | 6 of 11 |
| SPMO: Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF | 0.48 | +136% | 20.8% | 0.93 | 2 of 11 |
| [XLE](https://easycompare.io/research/xle): State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 0.26 | +177% | 25.5% | 0.93 | 6 of 11 |
| EWT: iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF | 0.31 | +153% | 24.2% | 0.89 | 5 of 11 |
| EUFN: iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF | 0.46 | +133% | 21.8% | 0.89 | 0 of 11 |

## Common questions

### What was HWM's worst drawdown?

HWM's deepest decline since it began trading in 1986 was 87.6%, from July 2007 to March 2009. It took about 15 years from the low to climb back to its old high.

### What were HWM's best and worst years?

Over 29 full calendar years, HWM's best year was 1999, when it returned 133%. Its worst was 2008, with a return of -67.4%.

### Is there a better investment than HWM?

Among HWM's popular alternatives, ATI was ahead of HWM in most short and long periods, though with much bigger swings (42.9% volatility against 32.5%). Nothing in the whole market did better on both counts: none of the 3,633 stocks and funds worth at least $500 million earned more than HWM with less volatility over the past 5 years.

### Is HWM more volatile than the S&P 500?

Yes. HWM's volatility over the past 5 years was 32.5%, 1.9 times the S&P 500's 17.1%. Volatility measures how widely returns swing around their average: in roughly two years out of three, HWM's return lands within 32.5% of its average, either way. The higher it is, the rougher the ride and the harder it is to hold through a slump.

### What is HWM's Sharpe ratio?

HWM's Sharpe ratio over the past 5 years was 1.36, against 0.79 for the S&P 500, so HWM earned more for each unit of risk than an index fund did. The Sharpe ratio is the return earned above cash for each unit of volatility: two investments with the same return are not equal if one got there with far bigger swings.

### How correlated is HWM with the S&P 500?

Over the past 5 years, HWM's monthly returns had a correlation of 0.55 with the S&P 500. Correlation runs from 1 (moving in lockstep) through 0 (unrelated) to −1 (moving in opposite directions). They often move together: some diversification next to an index fund, but not a cushion. In the table, the correlation column measures each option against HWM instead: the lower it is, the more that option would diversify a HWM holding.

### What are the best alternatives to HWM?

Of the 21 popular alternatives we compared, one outperformed HWM in at least 3 of 5 short-term and 2 of 3 long-term timeframes, with dividends reinvested: ATI.

### Did HWM outperform the S&P 500?

HWM finished ahead of the S&P 500 (SPY) in 12 of 29 full calendar years. In 2025, it returned +88.0%, against +17.7% for the index.

### How did HWM do in stock market crashes?

HWM fell less than the S&P 500 (SPY) in two of the ten major crashes it has traded through, and further in eight. The clearest case was the 2008 financial crisis, when HWM fell 87.3% and the S&P 500 fell 55.2%.

### What diversifies HWM?

These had a low correlation with HWM over the past 5 years and still earned a positive 5-year return: among large ETFs, DXJ (correlation 0.38), FTLS (correlation 0.49) and SMH (correlation 0.34); among large stocks, CAH (correlation 0.44), CLS (correlation 0.36) and FIX (correlation 0.49). A correlation near zero means the two have moved largely independently.

## More research

- [RTX Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/rtx)
- [Lockheed Martin (LMT) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/lmt)
- [Delta Air Lines (DAL) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/dal)
- [HEICO (HEI) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/hei)
- [TransDigm Group (TDG) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/tdg)
- [GE Aerospace (GE) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/ge)
- [Boeing (BA) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/ba)
- [Northrop Grumman (NOC) Performance, Alternatives and Market Rank](https://easycompare.io/research/noc)
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## Explore further

- Full page with charts: https://easycompare.io/research/hwm
- All research pages: https://easycompare.io/llms.txt
- Compare the entire market against HWM live: https://betterthanspy.com/?b=HWM&utm_source=easycompare&utm_medium=research