Sectors & Industries IndustrialsAerospace & Defense
Best Defense Stocks to Buy Now (2022)
Top defense stocks in 2022 ranked by overall Zen Score. See the best defense stocks to buy now, according to analyst forecasts for the aerospace & defense industry.

Industry: Aerospace & Defense

Zen Score Price Valuation Financials Forecast Earnings & Revenue Dividends Ownership Technicals

Ticker	Company	Exchange	Industry	Market Cap	Price	1d %	EBITDA	P/E	D/E
POWW	AMMO INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$456.33M	$3.95	0.77%	$49.06M	13.62x	0.11
RADA	RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES LTD	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$577.80M	$11.63	-0.34%	N/A	27.05x	0.32
IVAC	INTEVAC INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$123.54M	$4.93	-3.33%	$28.95M	4.74x	0.25
RGR	STURM RUGER & CO INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$1.12B	$63.64	-0.09%	$219.36M	7.57x	0.18
SWBI	SMITH & WESSON BRANDS INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$634.42M	$13.94	1.09%	$353.92M	2.80x	0.44
LHX	L3HARRIS TECHNOLOGIES INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$45.84B	$237.66	1.64%	$3.51B	25.36x	0.78
GD	GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$61.05B	$219.82	1.44%	$4.85B	18.71x	1.82
LMT	LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$117.83B	$442.78	2.25%	$9.32B	19.51x	4.15
DCO	DUCOMMUN INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$504.92M	$41.96	-0.66%	$216.87M	3.64x	0.97
VEC	VECTRUS INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$412.04M	$34.84	0.64%	$67.17M	11.20x	1.54
AJRD	AEROJET ROCKETDYNE HOLDINGS INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$3.25B	$40.44	0.97%	$289.10M	21.28x	3.45
BYRN	BYRNA TECHNOLOGIES INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$163.84M	$7.15	-6.90%	-$5.71M	-22.34x	0.15
BWXT	BWX TECHNOLOGIES INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$4.59B	$50.28	1.35%	$487.43M	15.96x	2.89
HEI	HEICO CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$18.35B	$135.05	0.41%	$478.42M	56.98x	0.40
HII	HUNTINGTON INGALLS INDUSTRIES INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$8.17B	$204.08	1.73%	$1.03B	15.31x	2.74
VTSI	VIRTRA INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$51.76M	$4.79	-0.44%	$5.12M	10.41x	0.72
AXON	AXON ENTERPRISE INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$6.57B	$92.56	-2.30%	$8.08M	159.59x	0.58
NOC	NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$73.23B	$471.10	3.14%	$8.85B	12.99x	2.15
CODA	CODA OCTOPUS GROUP INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$54.29M	$5.00	1.83%	$6.47M	10.87x	0.06
VSEC	VSE CORP	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$477.07M	$37.33	-0.32%	$50.03M	51.85x	1.17
KAMN	KAMAN CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$988.45M	$35.33	0.11%	$108.45M	24.71x	0.50
MNTS	MOMENTUS INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$208.48M	$2.55	-9.57%	$45.09M	10.20x	0.60
DPRO	DRAGANFLY INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$33.86M	$1.02	-1.92%	N/A	1.47x	0.28
ESLT	ELBIT SYSTEMS LTD	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$8.83B	$199.33	-9.39%	$580.11M	34.61x	2.66
ASTR	ASTRA SPACE INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$620.76M	$2.35	-3.69%	-$175.94M	3.31x	0.19
RTX	RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$138.62B	$93.21	1.50%	$10.49B	33.17x	1.18
WWD	WOODWARD INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$5.91B	$97.40	0.17%	$370.50M	34.66x	0.90
RKLB	ROCKET LAB USA INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$2.03B	$4.37	-4.59%	-$105.77M	-2.20x	0.44
TXT	TEXTRON INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$13.64B	$63.40	-1.28%	$1.43B	18.27x	1.30
MRCY	MERCURY SYSTEMS INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$3.28B	$56.91	-1.11%	$111.74M	258.68x	0.51
ASTC	ASTROTECH CORP	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$24.96M	$0.49	-4.82%	-$7.55M	-8.23x	0.05
EH	EHANG HOLDINGS LTD	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$419.01M	$7.36	-6.72%	-$47.54M	-8.47x	0.61
PL	PLANET LABS PBC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$1.34B	$5.02	-1.95%	-$81.20M	-2.92x	0.27
KTOS	KRATOS DEFENSE & SECURITY SOLUTIONS INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$1.70B	$13.61	0.07%	$41.70M	-90.73x	0.66
MOG.A	MOOG INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$2.47B	$77.33	2.06%	$315.65M	17.00x	1.41
PKE	PARK AEROSPACE CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$245.50M	$12.00	1.35%	$12.92M	29.27x	0.19
AIR	AAR CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$1.64B	$46.46	-0.30%	$131.00M	23.83x	0.53
ISSC	INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS & SUPPORT INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$153.72M	$8.90	2.06%	$6.75M	22.82x	0.10
HXL	HEXCEL CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$4.50B	$53.48	-0.76%	$238.80M	93.82x	0.92
ATRO	ASTRONICS CORP	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$315.71M	$9.90	-1.30%	$30.62M	-18.68x	1.26
NPK	NATIONAL PRESTO INDUSTRIES INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$487.84M	$69.16	1.21%	$27.53M	25.06x	0.18
CAE	CAE INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$7.31B	$23.09	-3.11%	$426.22M	81.59x	1.32
TDG	TRANSDIGM GROUP INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$31.64B	$579.59	2.55%	$2.30B	40.33x	-7.50
AVAV	AEROVIRONMENT INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$2.09B	$83.79	-1.54%	$40.82M	-4,189.50x	0.50
SPCE	VIRGIN GALACTIC HOLDINGS INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$1.60B	$6.18	-5.79%	-$302.23M	-4.90x	0.80
RDW	REDWIRE CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$223.63M	$3.56	-5.07%	-$65.71M	-0.02x	1.76
UAVS	AGEAGLE AERIAL SYSTEMS INC	NYSEMKT	Aerospace & Defense	$63.81M	$0.78	-8.00%	-$32.50M	-1.63x	0.28
ERJ	EMBRAER SA	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$1.84B	$10.04	-5.82%	$434.20M	-41.83x	2.77
EVTL	VERTICAL AEROSPACE LTD	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$1.04B	$4.98	-8.12%	-$304.75M	-2.01x	2.79
SPR	SPIRIT AEROSYSTEMS HOLDINGS INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$2.99B	$28.45	-6.17%	$125.70M	-7.02x	18.62
BA	BOEING CO	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$70.64B	$119.40	-3.76%	-$1.27B	-14.39x	-9.81
LILM	LILIUM NV	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$691.31M	$2.65	-14.24%	-$421.59M	-1.26x	0.26
ACHR	ARCHER AVIATION INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$800.63M	$3.33	-4.86%	-$306.69M	-2.28x	0.11
TATT	TAT TECHNOLOGIES LTD	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$52.09M	$5.87	3.16%	$1.34M	-14.68x	0.44
AIRI	AIR INDUSTRIES GROUP	NYSEMKT	Aerospace & Defense	$22.15M	$0.69	-1.86%	$6.30M	11.45x	2.00
SIDU	SIDUS SPACE INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$24.13M	$1.43	-7.14%	N/A	N/A	0.67
SIF	SIFCO INDUSTRIES INC	NYSEMKT	Aerospace & Defense	$26.33M	$4.36	-1.80%	$4.95M	-10.38x	1.18
LLAP	TERRAN ORBITAL CORP	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$702.95M	$5.12	-8.90%	-$199.75M	-0.10x	-5.98
TGI	TRIUMPH GROUP INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$924.81M	$14.31	-4.73%	$156.71M	-21.68x	-3.24
VORB	VIRGIN ORBIT HOLDINGS INC	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$1.38B	$4.12	-5.07%	-$201.36M	-9.58x	0.79
AZ	A2Z SMART TECHNOLOGIES CORP	NASDAQ	Aerospace & Defense	$93.12M	$3.43	-6.28%	N/A	N/A	0.44
CDRE	CADRE HOLDINGS INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$855.30M	$24.59	-1.48%	N/A	N/A	2.35
SKYH	SKY HARBOUR GROUP CORP	NYSEMKT	Aerospace & Defense	$491.32M	$8.60	7.37%	-$16.56M	-5.62x	19.83
EVEX	EVE HOLDING INC	NYSE	Aerospace & Defense	$278.88M	$9.70	6.71%	$8.17M	242.50x	-1.01

Defense Stocks FAQ

What are the best defense stocks to buy right now in May 2022?

According to Zen Score, the 3 best defense stocks to buy right now are:

1. AMMO (NASDAQ:POWW)

AMMO (NASDAQ:POWW) is the top defense stock with a Zen Score of 74, which is 38 points higher than the defense industry average of 36. It passed 24 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. AMMO has seen its stock lose -37.2% over the past year, underperforming other defense stocks by -30 percentage points.

AMMO has an average 1 year price target of $11.00, an upside of 178.48% from AMMO's current stock price of $3.95.

AMMO stock has a consensus Strong Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 2 analysts covering AMMO, 100% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 0% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

2. RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES (NASDAQ:RADA)

RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES (NASDAQ:RADA) is the second best defense stock with a Zen Score of 72, which is 36 points higher than the defense industry average of 36. It passed 24 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES has seen its stock lose -1.36% over the past year, overperforming other defense stocks by 6 percentage points.

RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES has an average 1 year price target of $16.00, an upside of 37.58% from RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES's current stock price of $11.63.

RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES stock has a consensus Buy recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 2 analysts covering RADA ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES, 50% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 50% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

3. INTEVAC (NASDAQ:IVAC)

INTEVAC (NASDAQ:IVAC) is the third best defense stock with a Zen Score of 63, which is 27 points higher than the defense industry average of 36. It passed 19 out of 33 due diligence checks and has strong fundamentals. INTEVAC has seen its stock lose -14.11% over the past year, underperforming other defense stocks by -7 percentage points.

INTEVAC stock has a consensus Hold recommendation according to Wall Street analysts. Of the 1 analyst covering INTEVAC, 0% have issued a Strong Buy rating, 0% have issued a Buy, 100% have issued a hold, while 0% have issued a Sell rating, and 0% have issued a Strong Sell.

What are the defense stocks with highest dividends?

Out of 21 defense stocks that have issued dividends in the past year, the 3 defense stocks with the highest dividend yields are:

1. NATIONAL PRESTO INDUSTRIES (NYSE:NPK)

NATIONAL PRESTO INDUSTRIES (NYSE:NPK) has an annual dividend yield of 6.51%, which is 5 percentage points higher than the defense industry average of 1.84%. NATIONAL PRESTO INDUSTRIES's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% two times in the last 10 years. NATIONAL PRESTO INDUSTRIES's dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

NATIONAL PRESTO INDUSTRIES's dividend payout ratio of 163% indicates that its high dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

2. STURM RUGER & (NYSE:RGR)

STURM RUGER & (NYSE:RGR) has an annual dividend yield of 5.23%, which is 3 percentage points higher than the defense industry average of 1.84%. STURM RUGER &'s dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% twelve times in the last 10 years. STURM RUGER &'s dividend has shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

STURM RUGER &'s dividend payout ratio of 41.7% indicates that its high dividend yield is sustainable for the long-term.

3. PARK AEROSPACE (NYSE:PKE)

PARK AEROSPACE (NYSE:PKE) has an annual dividend yield of 3.33%, which is 1 percentage points higher than the defense industry average of 1.84%. PARK AEROSPACE's dividend payout is not stable, having dropped more than 10% four times in the last 10 years. PARK AEROSPACE's dividend has not shown consistent growth over the last 10 years.

PARK AEROSPACE's dividend payout ratio of 97.6% indicates that its dividend yield might not be sustainable for the long-term.

Why are defense stocks up?

Defense stocks were up 0.41% in the last day, and down -1.54% over the last week.

We couldn't find a catalyst for why defense stocks are up.

What are the most undervalued defense stocks?

Based on WallStreetZen's Valuation Score, the 3 most undervalued defense stocks right now are:

1. INTEVAC (NASDAQ:IVAC)

INTEVAC (NASDAQ:IVAC) is the most undervalued defense stock based on WallStreetZen's Valuation Score. INTEVAC has a valuation score of 100, which is 69 points higher than the defense industry average of 31. It passed 7 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

INTEVAC's stock has dropped -14.11% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the defense industry by -7 percentage points.

2. SMITH & WESSON BRANDS (NASDAQ:SWBI)

SMITH & WESSON BRANDS (NASDAQ:SWBI) is the second most undervalued defense stock based on WallStreetZen's Valuation Score. SMITH & WESSON BRANDS has a valuation score of 86, which is 55 points higher than the defense industry average of 31. It passed 6 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

SMITH & WESSON BRANDS's stock has dropped -29.7% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the defense industry by -23 percentage points.

3. VIRTRA (NASDAQ:VTSI)

VIRTRA (NASDAQ:VTSI) is the third most undervalued defense stock based on WallStreetZen's Valuation Score. VIRTRA has a valuation score of 71, which is 40 points higher than the defense industry average of 31. It passed 5 out of 7 valuation due diligence checks.

VIRTRA's stock has dropped -15.24% in the past year. It has underperformed other stocks in the defense industry by -8 percentage points.

Are defense stocks a good buy now?

48.08% of defense stocks rated by analysts are a strong buy right now. On average, analysts expect defense stocks to rise by 23.56% over the next year.

What is the average p/e ratio of the aerospace & defense industry?

The average P/E ratio of the aerospace & defense industry is 10.05x.

WallStreetZen does not provide financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security.

Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes and is not advice. WallStreetZen does not bear any responsibility for any losses or damage that may occur as a result of reliance on this data.