Defense contracts every month give a general vibe for the overall health of contractors in the industry. It’s almost two years since the beginning of COVID-19 in the U.S – that month when remote work became a thing in national security. But, the DoD has continued to award contracts, and organizations have continued to grow. In fact, growth in the cleared market has put a strain on recruiters trying to keep up with hiring the seemingly impossible candidate. With steady growth, it’s always helpful to watch all the different contractors that support the defense industry when you’re looking at building your own personal financial portfolio.
Defense Stocks to Watch in February 2022
Every contractor has their pros and cons when it comes to investments. Some have been around in the defense industry for decades, and others have products and services in and out of the DoD that help to diversify the investment. It can be good to take a pulse of where some of the key players in the industry stand each month. It also helps to compare to the overall market. Currently, the average S&P 500 YTD return is -8.23% and the average Nasdaq YTD return is -12.90%. As you watch acquisitions and trends, you can see which contractors consistently perform and make your investment decisions from there.
| Company | Ticker | Current Price | Trailing P/E | Market Cap | YTD Return | Analysts Recommendation | Average Target Price |
| The Boeing Company | BA | $210.10 | N/A | 123.77B | 4.33% | Overweight | $259.00 |
| General Dynamics | GD | $210.55 | 18.28 | 59.36B | 1.30% | Overweight | $238.06 |
| Lockheed Martin | LMT | $387.50 | 17 | 107.89B | 8.88% | Overweight | $409.08 |
| Palantir Technologies | PLTR | $13.42 | N/A | 26.32B | -27.18% | Underweight | $19.00 |
| AT&T | T | $24.04 | 8.71 | 172.31B | -2.24% | Hold | $29.09 |
| CACI | CACI | $249.81 | 13.84 | 5.98B | -7.21% | Overweight | $304.58 |
| L3Harris Technologies | LHX | $219.82 | 24.16 | 43.75B | 3.09% | Overweight | $247.79 |
| Northrop Grumman | NOC | $391.89 | 8.99 | 62.33B | 0.91% | Overweight | $409.12 |
| Eli Lilly and Co | LLY | $235.29 | 38.29 | 225.51B | -9.19% | Overweight | $292.39 |
| Kratos | KTOS | $17.48 | 27.42 | 2,12B | -12.47% | Overweight | $24.54 |
| Raytheon | RTX | $94.99 | 36.53 | 142.6B | 8.73% | Overweight | $105.32 |
| Textron | TXT | $68.87 | 20.8 | 15.37B | -11.19% | Overweight | $85.83 |
| Elbit Systems | ESLT | $172.70 | 22.88 | 7.77B | -0.82% | Overweight | $173.00 |
| Honeywell | HON | $186.93 | 23.6 | 128.73B | -10.46% | Overweight | $226.00 |
| Amazon | AMZN | $3,112.00 | 47.88 | 1.55T | -6.93% | Buy | $4,123.18 |
| Microsoft | MSFT | $295.75 | 31.39 | 2.21T | -12.29% | Buy | $370.88 |
| KBR Inc | KBR | $44.19 | N/A | 6.21B | -7.20% | Buy | $53.67 |
| Pfizer | PFE | $49.65 | 12.92 | 285.02B | -15.66% | Overweight | $60.21 |
| SAIC | SAIC | $80.85 | 15.98 | 4.74B | -3.28% | Overweight | $98.63 |
| Leidos | LDOS | $87.50 | 16.16 | 12.49B | -1.73% | Overweight | $111.82 |
Terms to Understand
Trailing P/E: A ratio for valuing a company; calculated by dividing the current share price by total earning per share over the past 12 months. N/A means the P/E is negative.
Market Cap: Market Cap is the total market value of a company’s outstanding shares. Calculated by multiplying the total shares by the current market price of one share.
Analyst Recommendation: Consensus Analysts Recommendation is taken from MarketWatch’s five recommendations: Sell, Underweight, Hold, Overweight, and Buy, with Sell being the worst and Buy being the best. While Overweight seems like a bad thing in life, analysts are saying that it could perform better in the next 12 months compared to the benchmark. The key is understanding the analyst’s benchmark that they are using.
Average Target Price: Average Target Price is taken from MarketWatch
*Numbers are as of February 14, 2022, close of market.
*This article is intended to be informational only; it is not financial advice.
