The GovCon Index held in positive territory in choppy trade Thursday with a nominal gain of 0.109 points to 71.005 held up large jumps in the share prices of government services contractor CACI International (NYSE: CACI), satellite provider Intelsat (NYSE: I) and armored truck maker Navistar International (NYSE: NAV).
With Thursday’s gain, the Index nudged out of a correction to 9.74 percent off its most recent high of 78.669 from Dec. 1.
Arlington, Va.-based CACI surged 15 percent after the company posted second quarter financial results above Wall Street expectations and lifted its fiscal year 2016 guidance on new revenue from its acquisition of the former L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL) national security solutions business.
CACI was the Index’s second-ranked gainer Thursday with Intelsat first at a 16-percent spike and Navistar in third at 14 percent up.
Shares in Intelsat have rallied 24 percent over two days has declined 77 percent over 12 months and is trading in a 52-week range of $2.70-to-$18.00 as of Thursday’s close.
The Index jumped as high as 1.2 percent in morning trade before a sharp fall into negative territory at 12 p.m. Eastern and hovered near the gain line for the remainder of Thursday.
Cubic Corp. (NYSE: CUB) and Maximus (NYSE: MMS) lagged at respective declines of 16 and 4 percent after both companies posted quarterly financial results below the consensus Wall Street analyst forecasts.
Cubic, the San Diego-based defense and transportation contractor, reported a net loss for the first quarter of its 2016 fiscal year on costs related to the company’s realignment announced in February 2015 and sales declined year-over-year to fall below analyst expectations.
Reston, Va.-based government services contractor Maximus missed Wall Street’s first quarter earnings and revenue forecasts on program start delays and a pending change order from a customer in the company’s health services segment.
U.S. stocks edged slightly higher despite new data from the Labor Department that said U.S. productivity fell at the largest rate since 2014’s first quarter, according to CNBC.
The department will release the payrolls report for January on Friday.
Investors also continued to closely watch oil prices as the crude benchmark in New York settled down 1.7 percent to $31.72 a barrel a day after an 8-percent jump, CNBC reported.
Top GovCon Index Gainers
| Symbol | Company | $ Current Price | Net Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Intelsat | 3.80 | +0.53 | +16.21% |
| CACI | CACI International | 92.86 | +12.14 | +15.04% |
| NAV | Navistar International | 7.94 | +1.00 | +14.41% |
| ACM | AECOM | 26.43 | +0.60 | +2.32% |
| EGL | Engility Holdings | 13.07 | +0.29 | +2.27% |
*Also listed in the S&P 500 composite index
Market Summary
| Advancing GovCon Index Issues | 20 |
| Declining GovCon Index Issues | 8 |
| Unchanged GovCon Index Issues | 1 |
| Index | Value | Net Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| GovCon Index | 71.005 | +0.109 | +0.154% |
| S&P 500 | 1, 915.45 | +2.92 | +0.15% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 16, 416.58 | +79.92 | +0.49% |
| NASDAQ | 4, 509.56 | +5.32 | +0.12% |
