On Tuesday, L3Harris Technologies got an upgrade to its Relative Strength (RS) Rating, from 66 to 72. The rating hike came after L3Harris stock shot up 25% from early October to Tuesday.
Investors are bidding it up in response to the Melbourne, Fla.-based aerospace and defense products company's rising revenue growth. Sales have grown at an increasing rate over the past four quarters. But it's kind of an act of faith believing that the company's earnings will come along too. It's posted slight earnings declines every quarter over the past year.
L3Harris Stock Among Top 5%
Among its other ratings, watchlist candidate L3Harris stock owns a terrific 95 Composite Rating, out of 99. IBD's Composite Rating combines five other key technical and fundamental metrics in one rating. Additionally L3Harris stock also boasts an excellent A- Accumulation/Distribution Rating, showing that big funds are buying significantly more L3 shares than selling.
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L3Harris Technologies is providing military gear to the Navy to send to Ukraine to aid in its fight against the Russian invaders. That includes its Vehicle Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment (VAMPIRE for short) multipurpose weapons systems. L3Harris says on its website that it "designed the system to deliver advanced reconnaissance and precision strike capabilities to protect Ukrainian civilian infrastructure from enemy attacks."
Because of its weak earnings recently, L3Harris has a so-so 73 Earnings Per Share Rating. Look for its earnings to improve, and the EPS Rating along with them. It's started moving in the right direction. The last two quarters it's reported smaller EPS decreases.
L3Harris reported 16% higher revenue last quarter, to $4.92 billion. The prior three stanzas it recorded revenue growth of 5%, 9% and then 13%. Also last quarter it said earnings slid 2% to $3.19 per share. The three quarters before that its EPS fell 1%, 9% then 8%.
Roller Coast Ride Over?
L3Harris stock rose to an all-time high 255.10 in late October 2022. From there it consolidated for nearly a year, dropping to a 160.25 low on Oct. 6 this year. It's risen about 25% from there and closed at 200.31 Tuesday, down fractionally for the day.
L3Harris stock earns the No. 15 rank among its peers in the 67-stock Aerospace/Defense industry group. Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer and Howmet Aerospace, a provider of metal products to the aerospace industry, are among the group's highest-rated stocks.
When researching the best stocks to buy and watch, a stock's relative price strength vs. other stocks can provide valuable insight.
IBD's Relative Strength Rating tracks technical performance by showing how a stock's price movement over the last 52 weeks compares to other stocks.
History reveals that the market's biggest winners often have an 80 or better RS Rating as they launch their biggest climbs. See if L3Harris Technologies can continue to rebound and lift its 72 RS Rating to hit that benchmark.
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