RTN Bags Billion Dollar Contract

Raytheon Company (RTN - Analyst Report) has received a $1.1 billion contract for the production of Patriot Air and Missile Defense System for Taiwan. The award includes ground system hardware under an initial contract valued at $965.6 million and an initial spares contract valued at $134.4 million. 

The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, issued the contract. Work under the contract will be performed at the Raytheon Integrated Air Defense Center, Andover, Massachusetts; El Paso, Texas; and Huntsville, Alabama. 

The billion dollar contract will boost the order backlog of Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems segment. Earlier the company booked $1.9 billion orders for the Patriot program in the first nine months of 2009. 

Raytheon is the one of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the U.S. It boasts of a well-diversified line of military products, including missiles, radars, sensors, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment, communication and information systems, naval systems, air traffic control systems and technical services. 

We continue to view Raytheon as one of the best positioned among the large-cap defense primes due to its non-platform-centric focus, strong order bookings and order backlog, strong cash flow generation, and focus on shareholder value. We maintain our market Neutral recommendation on the shares. Defense contractors with significant exposure to high-cost platform programs include Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT - Analyst Report), Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC - Analyst Report), and General Dynamics Corporation (GD - Analyst Report).

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