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Reasons to Add Huntington Ingalls (HII) to Your Portfolio

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Huntington Ingalls (HII - Free Report) , with rising earnings estimates and strategic investments, offers a great investment opportunity in the Aerospace Defense sector.

Let’s focus on the reasons that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock a solid investment pick at the moment.

Growth Projections & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HII’s 2024 earnings per share (EPS) has increased 0.85% to $16.57 in the past 60 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HII’s total revenues for 2024 stands at $11.45 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 3.69%.

The company’s (three to five years) earnings growth is pegged at 8.02%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 4.68% in the last four quarters.

Return on Equity

Return on equity (ROE) indicates how efficiently a company has been utilizing its funds to generate higher returns. Currently, HII’s ROE is 14.69% compared to its industry average of 10.51%. This indicates that the company has been utilizing its funds more constructively than its peers in the industry.

Dividend History

Huntington Ingalls has been increasing shareholders’ value through dividend payments. In November 2023, HII announced a quarterly dividend of $1.30 per share and an annual dividend of $5.20 per share. HII’s current dividend yield is 2.04%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 composite’s yield of 1.12%.

Rising Backlog

With the strong demand that Huntington Ingalls products enjoy, the company’s order growth remains solid. The value of the company’s new contract awards won in the third quarter of 2023 was approximately $5.4 billion. This resulted in an increase in its total backlog of $49.42 billion as of Sep 30, 2023.

Solvency

HII’s times interest earned ratio (TIE) at the end of the third quarter of 2023 was 8.3. The TIE ratio of more than 1 indicates that the company will be able to meet its interest payment obligations in the near term without any problems.

Price Performance

In the past year, HII shares have risen 16.3% compared to its industry’s average decline of 5%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

A few other top-ranked stocks related to the same industry are Virgin Galactic (SPCE - Free Report) , Leidos (LDOS - Free Report) and Safran (SAFRY - Free Report) , each holding a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Virgin Galactic’s long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 40.31%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2024 EPS is pegged at a loss of $1.12, implying a year-over-year increase of 29.67%.

Leidos’ long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 8.12%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2024 EPS stands at $7.48, calling for a year-over-year increase of 6.31%.

Safran’s long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 34.34%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2024 EPS is pegged at $1.81, indicating a year-over-year rise of 154.93%.

 

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