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Here's Why You Should Add Leidos Holdings (LDOS) Stock Now

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Earnings estimates for Leidos Holdings, Inc. (LDOS - Free Report) for 2019 and 2020 have moved up 5.02% and 11.85% on a year-over-year basis to $4.60 and $5.14, respectively. Revenue estimates for 2019 and 2020 rose 5.24% and 4.08% on a year-over-year basis to $10.73 billion and $11.17 billion, respectively.

Let’s focus on the factors that make the stock an appropriate pick at the moment.

Zacks Rank & VGM Score

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The stock has an impressive VGM Score of A. Here V stands for Value, G for Growth and M for Momentum with the score being a weighted combination of all three factors. Back tested results show that stocks with a favorable VGM Score of A or B coupled with a bullish Zacks Rank are the best investment options.

Surprise History & Long-Term Growth

The company has an average four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 6.81%.

The company’s long-term (3 to 5 years) earnings growth is pegged at 7.50%.

Price Performance

In the past 12 months, Leidos Holdings’ shares have rallied 36.1% compared with the industry’s rise of 8.8%.

Strong Backlog

Increased contract wins from the Pentagon and other U.S. allies are key growth catalyst for Leidos Holdings, courtesy of cost-effective defense solutions.. In fact, these contract wins tend to bolster the company’s backlog.At the end of the reported quarter, the company’s total backlog was $21.5 billion compared with $20.8 billion at the end of 2018. Of this total backlog, $6.1 billion was funded.An increase in backlog indicates the quality of products supplied by the company and willingness of the customers to order and wait for the quality products of the company.

Other Key Picks

Some other top-ranked stocks in the same sector are Wesco Aircraft Holdings, Inc , Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC - Free Report) and General Dynamics Corporation (GD - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2.

Wesco Aircraft’s long-term growth estimates are currently pegged at 12%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings has moved up 3.7% to 84 cents in the past 60 days.

Northrop Grumman came up with average positive earnings surprise of 18.50% in the last four quarters. The company’s long-term growth estimates are currently pegged at 12.80%.

General Dynamics pulled off average positive earnings surprise of 7.33% in the last four quarters. The company’s long-term growth estimates are currently pegged at 8.90%.

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Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) - free report >>

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Leidos Holdings, Inc. (LDOS) - free report >>

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