HAWK vs SR: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of November 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: SR is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. HAWK and SR share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined HAWK and SR exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

HawkEye 360 operates a commercial radio-frequency intelligence constellation. Its satellites fly in clusters of three, which lets the company triangulate the origin of a signal rather than just detect it, and the product line is built around that geolocation: RFGeo-style detections of maritime VHF and radar emitters, GNSS and GPS interference mapping, air defense radar monitoring, and communications mapping. Clusters 13 and 14 went up in the first quarter of 2026 and took the fleet to roughly 42 spacecraft. Customers are almost entirely governmental, including the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Navy in the Indo-Pacific, NASA, and a growing set of allied ministries of defense. The December 2025 acquisition of Innovative Signal Analysis pushed the company further into the analytics and wide-area surveillance software layer that sits on top of the raw detections. Headcount is about 395.

Full HAWK guide

Spire Inc. is a public utility holding company headquartered in St. Louis with roots going back to the 1850s. Its regulated distribution utilities (Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama, Spire Gulf, Spire Mississippi and Spire Tennessee) buy natural gas, move it through their own distribution and transmission pipelines, and sell it to residential, commercial and industrial customers under rates set by state commissions. A small Midstream segment holds pipeline and storage assets that serve the utilities. The company closed a ~$2.48 billion purchase of Duke Energy's Piedmont Tennessee local distribution business on March 31, 2026, adding more than 200,000 customers around Nashville and nearly 3,800 miles of pipeline, and it agreed in April 2026 to sell its smaller Mississippi utility to Delta Utilities for ~$75 million. Spire's fiscal year ends September 30, which matters when reading any trailing figure.

Full SR guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• HAWK drivers: Allied defense budgets outside the U.S. intelligence community; GPS interference and air defense monitoring as new service lines.
• SR drivers: Rate base growth is the earnings engine; Tennessee is the newest and fastest-growing piece.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. A useful test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Customer concentration is severe: the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, and a handful of allied ministries account for the bulk of revenue, and the NRO award signed in December 2025 runs only 23 months, so renewal risk is dated and specific. For SR, regulatory outcomes drive nearly everything here, and as of October 2026 the calendar is crowded: Alabama and Gulf RSE renewal hearings were held in August 2026 with requested returns on equity of ~10.5% to 10.75%, and Spire expects to make its first Missouri future test year rate case filing around November 2026, so an unfavorable order in either place would flow straight to earnings.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick HAWK if you believe its drivers more; SR if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the HAWK and SR guides.

HAWK. HawkEye 360 completed its NYSE IPO on May 7, 2026, selling roughly 18.4 million shares at roughly $26 for roughly $435.9 million in proceeds. In August the stock traded near 17x trailing revenue; after a roughly 65% fall from its high it trades near 7x, and with roughly $503 million of cash the enterprise value is closer to $0.7 billion. Analysts expect roughly $217 million of revenue in 2026 and roughly $272 million in 2027, and third-quarter results on November 16 (consensus revenue roughly $56.4 million) are the next check on that path.

SR. At roughly $81.60 a share on October 16, 2026, SR trades near ~20 times the midpoint of fiscal 2026 adjusted guidance, about 24 times trailing GAAP earnings, and closer to ~15 times the fiscal 2027 midpoint. Those multiples describe different companies, because fiscal 2027 carries a first full year of Tennessee earnings plus the Missouri and Alabama rates that took effect during fiscal 2026, so anchoring on the trailing number overstates how expensive the shares look. Pure-play gas distributors have generally traded in the high teens to low twenties on forward earnings, which puts Spire inside its peer band, and the analyst average target sits near $91.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): HAWK shows revenue (ttm) ~$168 million; Q2 2026 growth ~87% year over year, revenue (q1 2026) ~$49.8 million, up ~117%; international ~$20.9 million, eps (q2 2026) ~$0.06 vs ~-$0.11 consensus, net income (ttm) ~negative $12.8 million; SR shows revenue (ttm) ~$2.67B, with ~$2.14B in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, adjusted eps guidance ~$3.90 to $4.10 for FY2026, ~$5.40 to $5.60 for FY2027, p/e trailing / forward ~24x / ~15x, market cap ~$4.8B at a share price near ~$81.60.

HAWK and SR are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined HAWK and SR exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.