VSE
VSEC on Nasdaq. VSE sells aftermarket aircraft parts and repair services to commercial and government aviation operators. Market value $4.7bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Industrials stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $-0.02 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 45.1 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 4 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 59 of 100. Price score: 8 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$168.48 a share, 9% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $154.67 to $247.85.
Dividend: 0.2% a year
Paid every year for at least 5 years
Payouts have jumped around in recent years, so this may not repeat.
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
Spare cash swings from quarter to quarter here: a shortfall of $1 million in the past 12 months, $6 million in the year to December 2025.
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $481m | $669m | $544m | $786m | $1.1bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | -0.6% | 8.0% | 9.2% | 7.5% | 8.1% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.68 | 0.64 | 0.70 | 0.44 | 0.20 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.01bn | 0.02bn | 0.02bn | 0.02bn | 0.03bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive1 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)7 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt0.20× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 10.9% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 119% more shares since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $449 million last quarter, up 65% on a year ago.
- Profit: $29 million, up 792% on a year ago.
- It keeps 9 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, about the same as a year earlier.
- Over the past 12 months it spent $1 million more cash than it brought in. A year earlier it had $13 million spare.
- 51% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- Debt is $872 million more than cash, up from $362 million a year ago.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $204m |
| December 2024 | Not reported |
| March 2025 | $256m |
| June 2025 | $272m |
| September 2025 | $283m |
| December 2025 | $301m |
| March 2026 | $325m |
| June 2026 | $449m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $12m |
| December 2024 | $13m |
| March 2025 | -$9m |
| June 2025 | $3m |
| September 2025 | $4m |
| December 2025 | $14m |
| March 2026 | $29m |
| June 2026 | $29m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 27 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 5 November 2026
Who owns it
4 long-term investors we follow own it, up from 3 last quarter. 381 funds in all.
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kensico Capital ManagementMichael Lowenstein | $27m | 0.5% | New |
| First Eagle Investment ManagementMatthew McLennan | $21m | <0.1% | Added |
| Royce & AssociatesChuck Royce | $18m | 0.1% | Cut |
| Polen CapitalDan Davidowitz | $7m | <0.1% | Cut |
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$1.1bnAdded
- T. Rowe Price Investment Management$480mCut
- State Street$471mAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$284mAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$235mAdded
- Durable Capital Partners LP$224mCut
- Capital Research Global Investors$189mCut
- UBS Group AG$188mCut
- Dendur Capital LP$188mAdded
- Geode Capital Management$185mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
5 investors own more than 5%.
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor15.5%+7.2 ptsSince 31 March 2026
- T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc.Passive investor8.2%−1.5 ptsSince 30 June 2026
- STATE STREET CORPORATIONPassive investor6.7%Since 31 March 2026
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor5.2%Since 30 June 2026
- FMR LLCPassive investorat least 2.7%−5.4 pts(filed with 1 related holder)Since 30 May 2025
- Ameriprise Financial, Inc.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 June 2025
- Durable Capital Partners LPPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 June 2026
- Capital Research Global InvestorsPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 March 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 15.5%+7.2 pts | 31 March 2026 | |
T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc. Passive investor | 8.2%−1.5 pts | 30 June 2026 | |
STATE STREET CORPORATION Passive investor | 6.7% | 31 March 2026 | |
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 5.2% | 30 June 2026 | |
FMR LLC Passive investor | at least 2.7%−5.4 pts (filed with 1 related holder) | 30 May 2025 | |
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 June 2025 | |
Durable Capital Partners LP Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 June 2026 | |
Capital Research Global Investors Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 March 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 2 sold $6m, $5m of it under preset trading plans.
- CUOMO JOHN ACEO and President, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Shares
- 1,566
- Price
- $187.49
- Value
- $293,614
- CUOMO JOHN ACEO and President, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 17 August 2026
- Shares
- 17,500
- Price
- $242.49
- Value
- $4m
- Thomas Benjamin E.Chief Operating OfficerSold
- Date
- 12 June 2026
- Shares
- 6,500
- Price
- $196.82
- Value
- $1m
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 September 2026 | CUOMO JOHN A CEO and President, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 1,566 | $187.49 | $293,614 |
| 17 August 2026 | CUOMO JOHN A CEO and President, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 17,500 | $242.49 | $4m |
| 12 June 2026 | Thomas Benjamin E. Chief Operating Officer | Sold | 6,500 | $196.82 | $1m |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
What could go wrong
- It isn't cheap on profits: 45.1× operating profit.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.