Life has two constants: death and taxes. But if you were to add a third, it might be the U.S. military expanding its annual budget. And now that the war in Iran has drastically depleted the coffers, the U.S. military is once again fiending for firepower. The Pentagon is requesting $1.1 trillion in discretionary spending for fiscal 2027, including a 188% increase in funds for missile procurement. This spending typically flows into the pockets of the aerospace industry, but not evenly.
Today, we’ll look beyond the prime contractors like Lockheed Martin Inc. (NYSE: LMT) and RTX Inc. (NYSE: RTX) to three lesser-known defense stocks. Each company posted a record backlog in its most recent earnings report, but record backlogs don’t always translate into record profits. We’ll dig into the numbers and find out which company is best positioned to actually monetize its growing order book.
