For most investors, how much a stock's price changes over time is important. Not only can it impact your investment portfolio, but it can also help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.
Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Leidos (LDOS) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to LDOS for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Leidos' Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Leidos' main business drivers.
Founded in 1969, Delaware-based Leidos Holdings, Inc. is a global science and technology leader that serves the defense, intelligence, civil and health markets. Its core capabilities include providing solutions in the fields of cybersecurity; data analytics; enterprise IT modernization; operations and logistics; sensors, collection and phenomenology; software development; and systems engineering.
During the first quarter of 2024, Leidos Holdings completed a realignment of its segment and reporting structure. Consequently, the company currently operates through the following four business segments:
National Security and Digital: This business segment offers technology-enabled services and mission software capabilities in the areas of cyber, logistics, security operations and decision analytics, as well as IT operations and digital transformation programs. In 2024, this division generated revenues of $7,365 million, contributing 44.2% to Leidos’ total revenues.
Health & Civil: This segment provides services and solutions in the areas of public health, care coordination, life and environmental sciences and transportation. Its core capabilities include health information management services, managed health services, systems and infrastructure modernization, and life sciences research and development. The unit recorded revenues of $5,015 million in 2024, which accounted for 30.1% of Leidos’ total revenues.
Commercial & International: This unit’s products include IT modernization, software solutions, mission support and logistics, Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) technologies and services, cloud services, power grid engineering, energy modernization and security products and services. Revenues from this division totaled $2,252 million, representing 13.5% of Leidos’ total revenues.
Defense Systems: This unit develops and produces advanced space, aerial, surface, and sub-surface manned and unmanned defense systems. Revenues from this division totaled $2,030 million in 2024, representing 12.2% of Leidos’ total revenues.
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Leidos a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
A $1000 investment made in May 2015 would be worth $3,645.52, or a 264.55% gain, as of May 12, 2025, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
The S&P 500 rose 167.47% and the price of gold increased 167.98% over the same time frame in comparison.
Analysts are forecasting more upside for LDOS too.
Leidos Holdings ended the first quarter of 2025 on a solid note, with both its earnings and revenues having surpassed their respective Zacks Consensus Estimates. The company’s defense solutions continue to witness increased contract wins from the Pentagon and other U.S. allies. These contract wins enhanced the company’s bookings, which, in turn, led to a solid backlog of $46.30 billion at the end of first quarter of 2025. The company’s shares have outperformed its industry in the past year. However, the shortage of skilled labor in the aerospace and defense industry poses a threat to Leidos. Persistent supply-chain constraints might continue to affect Leidos. The U.S. government has imposed enhanced export controls on certain products and sanctions on certain industry sectors in Russia, which in turn may impact the company.
Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 9.74%, and there have been 4 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2025 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Leidos Holdings, Inc. (LDOS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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