A Note From Our President & Founder Jim Garrettson
The start of March has given investors everywhere a respite of calm so far after a January and February period of across-the-board, worldwide market volatility that carried over from the end of last year.
Concerns over Chinaâs economic picture and low oil prices may still loom over financial markets worldwide but some stability appears to have settled in compared to the panic-like activity from winter.
Our GovCon Index of 30 large, publicly-traded government contractor stocks hit a three-month low Feb. 11 and sat at a decline of 11 percent on a year-to-date basis then.
The Index has climbed back 6 percent since and is down 5 percent since the year’s start as of Thursday, with the S&P 500 composite index down 2 percent year-to-date by comparison.
Within the past four weeks, the GCI has risen 4 percent as investors with an interest in defense and GovCon have welcomed positive earnings reports from the Indexâs largest platform and system makers for 2015 and outlooks that forecast continued growth in 2016.
Military truck maker Navistar has been the Indexâs brightest star over four weeks with its stock up 45 percent as of Thursday’s close in a period that saw its CEOÂ hint to Reuters the company was open to deals and increased industry partnerships to boost sales.
Traders have also snapped up Engility shares to make that company the Index’s second-largest gainer over four weeks at 35 percent, followed by Cubic at 19 percent and AECOM at 16 percent.
Another earnings season is just right around the corner next month to give us a new gauge of the GovCon sector’s health and its perception in the Wall Street community.
RTX (NYSE: RTX) has reported first quarter 2024 sales of $19.3 billion, a 12 percent increase from the prior-year period, and posted GAAP earnings per share of $1.28, up 32 percent compared to the previous year. In an earnings statement published Tuesday, RTX said it recorded $1.3 billion in gross proceeds from the divestiture of
The State Department has approved a potential $8.6 billion foreign military sale of F-35 conventional takeoff and landing aircraft and related equipment to the government of Greece. Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) aeronautics business and RTX's (NYSE: RTX) Pratt & Whitney subsidiary will serve as principal contractors on the proposed deal that covers 40 F-35 CTOL units and 42 F135-PW-100 engines.
RTX (NYSE: RTX) saw its fiscal 2023 fourth-quarter sales rise 10 percent to $19.9 billion and recorded a total backlog of $196 billion at the end of the quarter with the defense segment accounting for $78 billion of that backlog.