The United States Air Force announced yesterday the winner of an $80 billion competition for the rights to make the new stealth bombers for the military arm. Bloomberg reported Northrop Grumman (NOC) beat out stalwarts Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Boeing (BA) for the contract. The consensus from around the markets seems to be that the contract is a net positive for the sector which can be tracked with the iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense (NYSEarca: ITA) exchange traded fund.
The three giants make up nearly 25% of ITA’s holdings at the moment as the deal has moved it about 1.5% today as the stocks are projected to rise a bit more. Bloomberg projects that the deal could move Northrop Grumman stock up 4-6% and the two competitors 1-2% each.
ITA has had a solid year thus far gaining 9.7% while making great strides within the past month to the tune of 6.6%.
The win came at a crucial time for Northrop Grumman, Bloomberg explains, “There was a David and Goliath situation going on, this is disappointing for Lockheed Martin, pretty bad for Boeing, but transformational for Northrop Grumman. They go from being a collection of operating units to a first-tier prime with a strong central core.”