Here's Why You Should Add Huntington Ingalls to Your Portfolio

Huntington Ingalls Industries HII gains a strategic edge as the exclusive designer and builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the United States. Its strong order growth continues to translate into a robust backlog. Given its significant growth and strong debt management, HII offers a good investment opportunity in the Zacks Aerospace-Defense industry.

Let’s focus on the reasons that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock an attractive investment pick at the moment.

Growth Outlook & Surprise History of HII

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HII’s 2025 earnings per share (EPS) has increased 1.2% to $14.42 per share over the past 60 days.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HII’s total revenues for 2025 stands at $11.91 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 3.3%.

The company’s (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 11.3%. HII delivered an average earnings surprise of 4.20% in the past four quarters.

HII Leads US Navy Shipbuilding

HII is the sole designer and manufacturer of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the United States, with its vessels making up more than 70% of the active Navy fleet. In the first quarter of 2025, the company launched DDG 129- Jeremiah Denton, christened the LPD 30-Harrisburg ship and started fabricating the LPD 32 Philadelphia ship. HII plans to wrap up sea trials for DDG 1000 in 2025 and deliver both DDG 128 Ted Stevens and LHA 8 Bougainville in 2026.

Robust Backlog Drives HII

With the robust demand for Huntington Ingalls' offerings, the company continues to witness steady order growth. In the first quarter of 2025, it secured new contract awards worth nearly $2.1 billion. This pushed the total backlog to $48.05 billion as of March 31, 2025. Such a substantial backlog is a positive indicator of the company’s future revenue generation potential.

HII’s Return to Shareholders

Huntington Ingalls has been increasing shareholder value through dividend payments. Currently, the company’s quarterly dividend is $1.35 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend of $5.40. HII’s current dividend yield is 2.09%, better than the Zacks S&P 500 Composite's average of 1.19%.

HII’s Return on Equity

Return on equity (ROE) measures how effectively a company has used its funds to generate higher returns. HII currently has an ROE of 12.26% compared to the industry's average of 10.73%. This suggests that the company has been utilizing its funds more effectively than its peers in the industry.

HII’s Debt Structure

Currently, Huntington Ingalls’ total debt to capital is 40.15%, better than the industry’s average of 52.08%.

HII’s times interest earned ratio (TIE) at the end of the first quarter of 2025 was 7.3. The TIE ratio of more than 1 indicates that the company will be able to meet its interest payment obligations in the near term without any problems.

HII Stock Price Performance

In the past month, HII shares have risen 12.8% compared with the industry’s growth of 6.5%.

Other Stocks to Consider

A few other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are GE Aerospace GE, which sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and L3Harris Technologies LHX and Howmet Aerospace Inc. HWM, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

GE’s long-term earnings growth rate is 15%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 17.97% in the last four quarters.

LHX’s long-term earnings growth rate is 12.3%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 sales stands at $21.54 billion, which indicates growth of 1%.

HWM’s long-term earnings growth rate is 19.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Howmet’s 2025 sales is pegged at $8.07 billion, which implies an improvement of 8.6%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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