By now everyone has heard the news from President Obama that US Navy Seals killed Osama bin Laden over the weekend in Pakistan. T3 Live wants to thank all military and counter-intelligence personnel that were involved in the operation to take down Bin Laden as well as US personnel putting their lives at risk so we can enjoy our freedoms stateside. Thank You.
While Osama’s death does not end the War on Terror, started nearly 10 years ago after the attacks on September 11th, hopefully it provides the first domino that marks the end of Al-Qaida.
With deficits, the debt ceiling and budgets on the minds of politicians and voters, there will be pressure on Obama and congress to wind down the defense spending as it represented 20% of the 2010 budget.
The government contracts to aerospace and defense companies in support of the Iraq war, Taliban offensive in Afghanistan and overall War on Terror provided a huge boost in sales for publicly traded firms like Harris Corp. (NYSE:HRS), General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) and Raytheon (NYSE:RTN)
The Center for Public Integrity has a league table of Top 100 contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004-2006, listing L-3 Communications (NYSE:LLL) at number 6 overall earning $853,535,680, Fluor Corp. (NYSE:FLR) at number 7 overall earning $736,853,200 and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) at number 18 overall, earning $244,376,120.
This Bloomberg chart (below) highlights companies that benefited greatly from the Iraq war in 2007 as well as which companies saw the biggest gains in defense contract allotments from 2003 to 2006.
On the T3Live watchlist we look at defense stocks that maybe adversely affected if cuts are made to the defense budget. The companies are ranked by their stock’s performance since the market re-opened after the Sept. 11th, 2001 tragedy. (See performance chart below)
United Technologies Corporation | NYSE:UTX | Performance since 9/20/01: +402.57%
Sector: Conglomerates | Industry: Conglomerates | Market Cap.: 82.37B
Harris Corporation | NYSE:HRS | Perf. since 9/20/01: +308.81%
Sector: Technology | Industry: Communication Equipment | Market Cap.: 6.70B
Fluor Corporation | NYSE:FLR | Perf. since 9/20/01: +305.12%
Sector: Industrial | Industry: Goods Heavy Construction | Market Cap.: 12.08B
The Boeing Company | NYSE:BA | Perf. since 9/20/01: +211.04%
Sector: Industrial Goods | Industry: Aerospace/Defense Products & Services | Market Cap.: 58.71B
Lockheed Martin Corporation | NYSE:LMT | Perf. since 9/20/01: +116.63%
Sector: Industrial Goods | Industry: Aerospace/Defense Products & Services | Market Cap.: 27.35B
General Dynamics Corporation | NYSE:GD | Perf. since 9/20/01: +113.77%
Sector: Industrial Goods | Industry: Aerospace/Defense Products & Services | Market Cap.: 27.48B
L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. | NYSE:LLL | Perf. since 9/20/01: +101.3%
Sector: Industrial Goods | Industry: Aerospace/Defense Products & Services | Market Cap.: 9.37B
Raytheon Company | NYSE:RTN | Perf. since 9/20/01: +78.83%
Sector: Industrial Goods Industry: Aerospace/Defense – Major Diversified Market Cap.: 17.62B
Northrop Grumman Corporation | NYSE:NOC | Perf. since 9/20/01: +65.25%
Sector: Conglomerates | Industry: Conglomerates | Market Cap.: 18.77B
Alliant Techsystems Inc. | NYSE:ATK | Perf. since 9/20/01: +30.64%
Sector: Industrial Goods | Industry: Aerospace/Defense Products & Services | Market Cap.: 2.37B
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