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Reasons to Add BAE Systems (BAESY) Stock to Your Portfolio

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BAE Systems PLC (BAESY - Free Report) is engaged in the development, delivery and support of advanced defense and aerospace systems. With strong organic and inorganic growth incentives and a solid solvency position, it witnesses strong performance.

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

Growth Projections & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BAESY’s 2023 earnings per share is pegged at $3.16. The bottom-line estimates have moved up 4.6% in the past 60 days.

The consensus estimate for the current-year sales is pinned at $30.87 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 33.6%.

BAESY’s long-term (three-to five-years) earnings growth is pegged at 14%.

Debt Position

The total debt-to-capital of BAESY is 31.5%, better than 50.87% registered by the industry. This indicates that the company has less debt than its peers, which is a positive sign.

BAE Systems’ times interest earned ratio stands at 5.5. The ratio, being greater than one, reflects BAESY’s ability to meet future debt obligations without difficulties.

Increasing Demand & Systematic Investments

As of Jun 30, 2023, BAESY had orders totaling 21.1 billion pounds with a backlog of 66.2 billion pounds. This reflects an improvement from the backlog of 58.9 billion pounds as of Dec 31, 2022, indicating growing demand for the company’s products.

The company has a disciplined capital allocation model. Over the last three years, BAE Systems invested 1.4 billion pounds in their facilities and 5.1 billion pounds in technological innovation.

Return on Equity (ROE)

ROE is a measure of a company’s financial performance and shows how it is utilizing its funds. BAESY’s current ROE is 15.2%, better than the industry’s average of 11.2%, which indicates that the company is utilizing its funds more efficiently than its peers.

Price Performance

In the past year, BAESY’s shares have rallied 51.4% compared with the industry’s 11% growth.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

A few other top-ranked stocks in the same industry are Hexcel Corp. (HXL - Free Report) , AeroVironment Inc. (AVAV - Free Report) and CurtissWright Corp. (CW - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HXL’s 2023 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 14.3%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 16.14% in the past four quarters.

The consensus estimate for AVAV’s 2023 sales implies a year-over-year improvement of 39.9%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 11.03% in the past four quarters.

The consensus mark for CW’s 2023 sales indicates a year-over-year increase of 8.3%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 4.08% in the past four quarters.

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