Leonardo DRS, Inc. DRS, with a strong backlog, rising earnings estimates and better debt management, offers a great investment opportunity in the Zacks Aerospace sector.

Let’s focus on the factors that make this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company a strong investment pick at the moment.

DRS’ Growth Projections & Surprise History

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for DRS’ 2024 earnings per share (EPS) has increased 3.7% to 84 cents in the past 60 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Leonardo DRS’ total revenues for 2024 stands at $3.15 billion, which indicates year-over-year growth of 11.4%.

The company’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth is 16.4%. It delivered an average earnings surprise of 25.6% in the last four quarters.

Debt Position of DRS

Currently, Leonardo DRS’ total debt to capital is 13.42%, much better than the industry’s average of 53.05%.

Leonardo DRS’ times interest earned ratio (TIE) at the end of the second quarter of 2024 was 8.3. 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.

DRS’ Liquidity

The company’s current ratio at the end of the second quarter of 2024 was 2.01, higher than the industry’s average of 1.51. The ratio, being greater than one, indicates Leonardo DRS’ ability to meet its future short-term liabilities without difficulties.

DRS’ Rising Backlog

DRS’ total backlog as of June 30, 2024 increased a solid 81.9% to $7.93 billion from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure. The acceptance of a multi-boat contract to assist electric propulsion activities on the Columbia Class submarine program with the U.S. Navy was the primary driver of the backlog rise.  Such a robust backlog increase suggests that the company will have high revenue growth in the following quarters.

DRS Stock Price Performance

In the past three months, DRS shares have rallied 11.9% compared with the industry’s growth of 8.7%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Other Stocks to Consider

A few other top-ranked stocks from the same industry are Curtiss-Wright Corp. CW, Teledyne Technologies, Inc. TDY and BAE Systems BAESY, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Curtiss-Wright delivered an average earnings surprise of 11.52% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CW’s total revenues for 2024 stands at $3.05 billion, which indicates growth of 7% from the 2023 reported figure.

Teledyne’s long-term earnings growth rate is 7.3%. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 3.47% in the last four quarters.

BAE Systems’ long-term earnings growth rate is 12.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BAESY’s 2024 sales is pegged at $35.84 billion, which implies an improvement of 36.3% from the 2023 reported sales figure.