Stock price when the opinion was issued
Longer-term uptrend remains intact. A lot of defense stocks sold off on the Middle East ceasefire. He's watching closely, as these stocks have been leaders; but if they continue to weaken, it'll be the first warning shot across the bow of a rotation.
If it breaks below the December lows, look to reduce exposure.
Are half-defence, half-aerospace, both strong given wars in Ukraine and the Middle East as governments increase defence spending. Backlogs are at all-time highs. Is a concern that if oil prices remain due from the US-Iran war, then airlines will cut back and this will effect servicing airlines. Will monitor this.
Brand-new 52-week high today. Excellent technical structure for the stock. Long-term moving averages are trending higher. One concern is extended valuation. Talk of more defense spending has to come through. Forward PE is near 30x, and earnings growth rate is 10x -- PEG ratio is 3x, a bit expensive.
200-day MA is $154, while the 100-day is ~$167. So you could try to get it around the 100-day MA (which will also be moving higher as the stock moves higher).
They bought it because he liked the combination of the old UTX in the commercial aerospace as well as the defense component. There is a need for more and more defense spending and they have the Patriot missile. On the commercial side, airlines want more fuel efficient airplanes so there is good upside.
Servicing the aerospace OEM side is very profitable, with long-term recurring revenues. This makes the earnings profile less cyclical. Defense side seeing very strong demand from US and internationally. Very strong backlog in defense. Will benefit from global increases in defense spending. In the face of geopolitical turbulence, defense business should stay pretty sound. Yield is 1.96%.
(Analysts’ price target is $139.88)