L3Harris Secures Contract to Support P-8A Poseidon Aircraft

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. LHX recently clinched a contract involving P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The award has been offered by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD.

Details of LHX’s Deal

Per the terms of the deal, L3Harris will manufacture and deliver 31 Bomb Rack Unit (BRU)-75A and BRU-76A shipsets for the P-8A Poseidon aircraft. The contract will serve the U.S. Navy, as well as the governments of Canada and Germany.

Valued at $34.4 million, the contract is anticipated to be completed by March 2030. The work related to this contract will be executed in Amityville, NY.

L3Harris’ Growth Potential

Rising military conflicts, terrorism and border disputes, along with rapid technological advancements in combat jets, have led nations to increase their defense spending on combat-proven jets, which constitute an integral part of their defense structure. This is likely to have prompted the Mordor Intelligence firm to forecast a compound annual growth rate of 4.7% for the global military aviation market during the 2025-2030 period.

Such solid market growth opportunities should benefit L3Harris, which develops all the essential elements of pneumatic suspension and release equipment systems that play a critical role in the deployment of weapons in aerial missions. These elements include the bomb rack units like those LHX will deliver for Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft. 

LHX’s bomb release units are also installed in other combat jets like Lockheed’s F-35 Lightning II aircraft as well as General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper jet. This reflects the solid demand that LHX’s BRU enjoys in the military aviation market, which fetches solid contract wins, like the latest one for the company. 

The rising global demand for advanced military jets — reflected in the aforementioned market growth outlook — is likely to drive increased procurement of LHX’s bomb release units. This should strengthen LHX’s contract pipeline and bolster its long-term revenue growth prospects.

Opportunities for Other Defense Stocks

Other defense contractors that are likely to benefit from the expanding global military aviation market are discussed below:

The Boeing Company BA: The company offers a comprehensive portfolio of the most advanced combat aircraft, which includes F/A-18 Super Hornet, F-15EX and EA-18G Growler.

Boeing boasts a long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate of 18.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BA’s 2025 sales suggests an improvement of 27.5%.

Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT: The company is among the leaders in the combat aircraft space, with its product portfolio constituting some of the most advanced military jets, such as the F-35 Lightning II, F-21, F-22 Raptor and F-16 Fighting Falcon.

Lockheed boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 10.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LMT’s 2025 sales implies an improvement of 4.7%.

Embraer S.A. ERJ: It is another prominent aircraft manufacturer with a solid defense product portfolio, which includes the A-29 Super Tucano and the KC-390 Millennium military multi-mission aircraft.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ERJ’s 2025 sales indicates growth of 15.4%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 150.60% in the last four quarters.

LHX Stock Price Movement

In the past month, L3Harris shares have risen 5.9% compared with the industry’s growth of 6.5%.

L3Harris’ Zacks Rank

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

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

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