Goldminer stocks are on the rise again today, which gets me to thinking that the international diplomatic world may be concerned about matters of great importance, as they should.
Under President Trump, military spending is likely to soar over the next few years. Military spending is more than simply Homeland Security; it involves massively costly programs like:
•the F-35 joint strike fighter (Lockheed Martin)
•the AH-64D Apache combat helicopter, drones, missiles like the A160T Hummingbird, and the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighter (Boeing)
•systems for the nuclear-powered attack submarines and military vehicles such as the legendary Abrams M1 Main Battle Tank, as well as ships, munitions, and military-grade communication systems (General Dynamics)
•missiles (Raytheon)
•the small manned airborne mission-critical intelligence-gathering platform called SPYDR (L-3 Communications)
•the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter (United Technologies)
•the SAIC Force Protection Suite engineering system (SAIC)
•the severe-duty tactical and armored vehicles (Oshkosh)
•the engine parts for military equipment like the General Dynamics Abrams M1 Main Battle Tank and the Boeing CH-47 Chinook helicopter (Honeywell)
•the real-time in-vehicle military communication systems (GE)
•the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) array transmitter technology (ITT Exelis)
•the Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) and small caliber ammunition (ATK)
•the MaxxPro (Maximum Protection) product line that includes MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protection) vehicles (Navistar)
•the TROJAN global satellite network of shared mission-critical intelligence systems of the Army
So, I have been reviewing a list of the biggest recipients of military expenditures:
#1 Lockheed Martin
#2 Boeing
#3 Northrop Grumann
#4 General Dynamics
#5 Raytheon
#6 L-3 Communications
#7 United Technologies including Pratt & Whitney (UTX Sub)
#8 SAIC
#9 Oshkosh
#10 Computer Sciences Corp
#11 Honeywell
#12 General Electric
#13 ITT Exelis
#14 KBR
#15 ATK
#16 Rockwell Collins
#17 Textron
#18 ManTech
#19 Navistar Defense
#20 CACI International
#21 URS (ACM)
#22 UTC Aerospace Systems Goodrich
#23 Hewlett-Packard
#24 DynCorp International (a Cerberus Capital Management holding)
Twenty important charts can be viewed via these links (use different time frames as you wish):
You can also insert the same strings of symbols into FINVIZ and get a comprehensive data dump.
In total, these US Defense Contractors earn hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenues from government, and their combined profits are in the tens of billions.
The biggest military in the world is both extremely costly and, I believe, necessary. Under President Trump, the budget is going to get much bigger, and, while I don’t condone some of his day to day tactics, I am in full support of his views on the military.
As investors, we all have to be watching closely.
All the best,
/Bill
