Why Kratos Defense Stock Topped the Market on Monday

Key Points

• This company sure didn't have a case of the Mondays, as several analysts made bullish adjustments to their existing takes.

• Meanwhile, another pundit launched coverage of the stock with a buy rating.

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There's nothing like an estimates-beating quarter to bring a lingering bull stampede into a stock.

Buoyed by good quarterly results it delivered last week and several analyst price-target boosts on Monday, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (NASDAQ: KTOS) shares bumped higher again that session. They closed the day more than 2% higher in price, contrasting favorably with the 0.3% dip of the S&P 500 index.

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Time to go on offense with this defense stock

Those bullish adjustments from pundits started flowing in on Friday, following Kratos' earnings release, and continued into the new week.

Image source: Getty Images.

Monday morning, both B. Riley and Noble Capital lifted their price targets on the defense stock and steadfastly maintained their equivalent of buy recommendations. The former's Mike Crawford now feels the stock is worth $72 per share, well up from his previous fair value assessment of $55. Joe Gomes from the latter company hiked his price target by 25% to $75 per share from $60.

As if to put an exclamation point on Kratos' solid second-quarter performance, one researcher even initiated coverage with its own buy rating. This was Cannacord Genuity's Austin Moeller. Essentially in line with his two peers, he believes the company's shares could reach a price of $74 apiece.

Lingering bullishness

We can't really blame any investor or analyst for being optimistic about Kratos' future, given how satisfying some of those quarterly figures were. One that particularly stood out was the company's 17% year-over-year rise in sales, which is considerable for a company that's large and well established in its market.

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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.