Stocks · Industrials · Aerospace & Defense
VSE Corporation VSEC
$167.28 +4.06% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $4.69B
Strong growth
Next earnings report: Oct 26, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- The diluted share count rose 51.4% in a year.
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $2.72, up 67.9% year over year.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 8 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +40.7%).
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth87Strong
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 13%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 18%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 9%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 15%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 12%
Quality22Very weak
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 36%
- Gross marginBottom 17%
- Operating marginTop 33%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 5%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 11%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 15%
- Interest coverTop 15%
Value29Very weak
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 41%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 28%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 26%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 26%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 34%
Momentum39Weak
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 41%
- 6-month returnBottom 31%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 44%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 36%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 40%
Revisions99Exceptional
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 14%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 14%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 4%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 23%
Stability33Weak
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 38%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 21%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 20%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 15%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 24.1% | 31.7% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 208.7% | 67.9% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 10.9% | 14.0% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 9.9% | 11.2% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 1.3% | -0.1% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 31.7% | 24.1% | ↑ | Top 13% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 67.9% | 208.7% | ↓ | Top 18% |
| Gross margin | 14.0% | 10.9% | ↑ | Bottom 17% |
| Operating margin | 11.2% | 9.9% | ↑ | Top 33% |
| Net margin | 5.5% | 3.3% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -0.1% | 1.3% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 2.8% | — | Bottom 36% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 18.4% | — | Top 15% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 0.36×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 1.1%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.6%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +35.2 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 5.36×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 16.0×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.20%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -27.07%
- Shareholder yield
- -26.87%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +51.4%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +34.4%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 8
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +40.7%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +1.6%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $265.00
- Target vs current price
- +58.4%
- Analysts with a rating
- 12
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 100%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | +87.4% | +0.7% | +12.9% | -7.5% | — |
| May 5, 2026 | +25.8% | +5.5% | +13.7% | +7.2% | +13.9% |
| Feb 25, 2026 | +31.8% | -2.1% | -3.4% | -21.9% | -23.9% |
| Oct 27, 2025 | +17.9% | -1.9% | -1.3% | -8.2% | +16.1% |
| Jul 30, 2025 | +40.6% | -0.2% | +11.8% | +17.8% | +19.8% |
| May 6, 2025 | +41.8% | +0.8% | +12.2% | +12.2% | +33.7% |
| Feb 26, 2025 | +23.3% | +0.4% | +15.3% | +24.6% | +28.5% |
| Nov 6, 2024 | +18.3% | +9.6% | +14.0% | +10.0% | -2.6% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2026 | $1.75 | $0.93 | +87.4% | $449.1M |
| May 5, 2026 | $1.17 | $0.93 | +25.8% | $324.6M |
| Feb 25, 2026 | $1.16 | $0.88 | +31.8% | $301.2M |
| Oct 27, 2025 | $0.99 | $0.84 | +17.9% | $282.9M |
| Jul 30, 2025 | $0.97 | $0.69 | +40.6% | $272.1M |
| May 6, 2025 | $0.78 | $0.55 | +41.8% | $256.0M |
| Feb 26, 2025 | $0.90 | $0.73 | +23.3% | $299.0M |
| Nov 6, 2024 | $0.71 | $0.60 | +18.3% | $273.6M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 61.5× | 74.7× | 42th | Bottom 41% |
| P/E (forward) | 24.6× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 31.9× | — | — | Bottom 26% |
| EV / Sales | 4.16× | — | — | Bottom 26% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -0.02% | — | — | Bottom 28% |
| Earnings yield | 1.63% | — | — | Bottom 41% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 17.7× – 227.1× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +0.6%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +67.9%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -14.2%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -5.7%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -17.3%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -15.8%
- RSI (14)
- 36.0
- Relative volume
- 1.54×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 53.7%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 78th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.60
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.48
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -31.3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -34.0%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 12, 2021 | Jul 13, 2022 | -47.9% | 165 days | 364 days (Dec 21, 2023) |
| Aug 17, 2026 | Oct 1, 2026 | -34.0% | 32 days | Not yet recovered |
| Feb 20, 2026 | May 19, 2026 | -30.3% | 61 days | 28 days (Jun 30, 2026) |
| Nov 13, 2024 | Jan 8, 2025 | -25.4% | 37 days | 50 days (Mar 24, 2025) |
| Jul 6, 2026 | Jul 29, 2026 | -22.3% | 17 days | 9 days (Aug 11, 2026) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $4.69B
- P/E (TTM)
- 61.5
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $2.72
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.36B
- Dividend yield
- 0.30%
- 52-week range
- $154.67 – $247.85
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $750.9M | $669.4M | $860.5M | $1.08B | $1.11B |
| Gross profit | $25.1M | $57.2M | $95.6M | $108.2M | $132.1M |
| Operating income | $21.5M | $53.6M | $91.7M | $102.7M | $125.0M |
| Net income | $8.0M | $28.1M | $39.1M | $30.5M | $53.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.63 | $2.19 | $2.76 | $1.70 | $2.52 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $203.6M | $299.0M | $256.0M | $272.1M | $282.9M | $301.2M | $324.6M | $449.1M |
| Net income | $11.7M | $15.6M | -$9.2M | $16.4M | $3.8M | $13.6M | $29.1M | $28.5M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.63 | $0.76 | -$0.43 | $0.66 | $0.19 | $0.58 | $1.04 | $0.91 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | -$17.6M | $8.1M | -$21.8M | -$31.0M | $27.0M |
| Capital expenditure | -$10.5M | -$11.2M | -$18.7M | -$20.7M | -$21.3M |
| Free cash flow | -$28.1M | -$3.2M | -$40.5M | -$51.7M | $5.7M |
| Dividends paid | -$4.4M | -$5.1M | -$5.4M | -$7.1M | -$8.3M |
| Net share buybacks | $52.0M | $899,000 | $130.0M | $326.0M | $442.2M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $75.4M
- Total assets
- $4.40B
- Total liabilities
- $1.46B
- Total debt
- $1.03B
- Net debt
- $950.2M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $2.93B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2026 | $0.10 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Jul 15, 2026 | $0.10 | Jul 29, 2026 |
| Apr 15, 2026 | $0.10 | Apr 29, 2026 |
| Jan 15, 2026 | $0.10 | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Oct 15, 2025 | $0.10 | Oct 29, 2025 |
| Jul 16, 2025 | $0.10 | Jul 30, 2025 |
| May 1, 2025 | $0.10 | May 15, 2025 |
| Jan 23, 2025 | $0.10 | Feb 6, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 2,275,521
- Days to cover
- 7.23
- Change vs previous report
- +9.8%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Aug 4, 2016
- 2-for-1
- Jun 29, 2007
- 2-for-1
- Jan 8, 1998
- 5-for-4
- May 23, 1996
- 2-for-1
- Jan 4, 1983
- 2-for-1