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KBR Wins $194.3M Task Order From AFRL, Aids Government Unit

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KBR, Inc. (KBR - Free Report) recently announced that its Government Solutions unit has won a $194.3-million task order from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (“AFRL”). KBR will provide research support to AFRL’s Trusted Electronics Branch (RYDT) for state-of-the-art microelectronics technologies.

Stuart Bradie, KBR President and Chief Executive Officer, said "KBR's expertise in cutting-edge research will assist AFRL in assuring the integrity of microelectronics, which is vital to America's security."

Per the Security and Trustworthy Foundations for Electronics Resurgence or STryFER task order, KBR will offer multidiscipline research and support the development of design best practices as well as methodologies for trusted systems in the digital and analog realm. It will also develop unique and science-driven counterfeit detection schemes through microelectronic device characterization methodology, and advanced fabrication as well as packaging schemes for trusted microelectronics.

The Air Force Installation Contracting Center, 774 Enterprise Sourcing Squadron has awarded KBR this cost-plus-fixed-fee IDIQ contract to carry out duties at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and other locations for the next five years.

Since 2012, KBR has been supporting AFRL/RYDT and predecessor organizations to enhance technologies, leading edge research, and analysis of microelectronics.

Solid Backlog Level & Share Performance

As of Mar 31, 2021, total backlog was $14.6 billion compared with $15.1 billion at 2020-end. Of the total backlog, Government Solutions booked $12.3 billion. The Sustainable Technology Solutions segment accounted for $2.3 billion of the total backlog.

Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment Research

KBR’s shares have gained 27.2% in the past six months, almost in line with the industry’s 29% growth. Also, earnings estimates for 2021 have moved up 0.5% over the past 60 days, depicting analysts' optimism over bottom-line growth potential. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s 2021 earnings indicates a 22% increase from 2020. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

KBR’s solid prospects are backed by continuous contract wins, strong project execution, backlog level, and potential government as well as technology businesses. Effective Jan 1, 2021, it implemented a strategic change and transitioned from a three-core business segment model to a two-core business segment model comprised Government Solutions and Sustainable Technology Solutions.

The Government Solutions business is one of the major contributing units of KBR, which shares space with AECOM (ACM - Free Report) , Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (J - Free Report) and Quanta Services Inc. (PWR - Free Report) in the Zacks Engineering - R and D Services industry. The business has been riding on on-contract growth in logistics and engineering, take-away wins alongside new work awarded under the company’s portfolio of well-positioned contracting vehicles.

Robust contribution from KBR’s overseas logistics and mission support programs on the back of higher military exercise activities, increased outsourcing of sustainment activities by the military and ramp up of new wins led to the growth. Notably, higher tasking for various missile defense and other military priorities in its engineering business areas — under select IDIQ contracts — are other major positives. The company anticipates strong growth across all key markets in the United States, U.K. and Australia, primarily attributable to persistent opportunities across the project’s lifecycle.

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