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Reasons to Add Leonardo DRS (DRS) to Your Portfolio Now

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Leonardo DRS Inc. (DRS - Free Report) , with a strong backlog and rising earnings estimates, 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 promising investment pick at the moment.

Growth Projections & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DRS’ 2024 earnings per share (EPS) has increased 2.43% to 84 cents in the past 60 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Leonardo DRS’ total revenues for 2024 stands at $2.98 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 7.69%.

The company’s (three to five years) earnings growth is pegged at 8.53%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 34.85% in the last four quarters.

Rising Backlog

DRS’ total backlog increased by $1,581 million to $4,719 million for the nine months ended Sep 30, 2023 from $3,138 million for the nine months ended Sep 30, 2022. The backlog increase was driven primarily by the receipt of a multi-boat contract to support electric propulsion efforts on the Columbia Class submarine program with the U.S. Navy. Subsequent to the third quarter, the company agreed to contract terms and pricing totaling more than $3 billion for the majority of its electric power and propulsion systems on the remaining seven Columbia Class submarines.

Solvency and Liquidity Ratio

Leonardo DRS’ times interest earned ratio (TIE) at the end of the third quarter of 2023 was 6.1. The strong TIE ratio indicates that the company will be able to meet its interest payment obligations in the near term without any problems.

The current ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2023 was 1.83. The ratio being greater than one indicates the company’s ability to meet its future short-term liabilities without difficulties.

Price Performance

In the past year, DRS shares have risen 46.7% compared with its industry’s average return of 23.2%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

A few other top-ranked stocks from the same sector are Heico (HEI - Free Report) , AeroVironment (AVAV - Free Report) and Safran (SAFRY - 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.

Heico’s long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 14.31%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s fiscal 2024 EPS is pegged at $3.41, implying a year-over-year increase of 11.44%.

AeroVironment delivered an average earnings surprise of 47.23% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s fiscal 2024 EPS stands at $2.76, calling for a year-over-year increase of 119.05%.

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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