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Bell-Boeing Wins a $1.7B Deal to Support V-22 Osprey Fleet

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Bell-Boeing, a joint venture (JV) between The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report) and Bell Helicopter — a unit of Textron Inc. (TXT - Free Report) — recently secured a contract for supplying aircraft components for the V-22 Osprey fleet. The Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, PA has offered the award.

Details of the Deal

Valued at $1.64 billion, the contract is expected to get completed by December 2026. It will serve the U.S. Marine, Navy as well as Air Force.

Per the terms, Bell-Boeing will provide for the repair, replacement, required availability, configuration management, and inventory management to support 228 MV-22B; CMV-22 and CV-22 Osprey aircraft. The majority of the work related to this contract will be carried out in Fort Worth, TX.

Growing Jet Demand & V-22 Jets

A rapid increase in terror attacks has compelled nations to strengthen their arsenal and bump up defense budget. With the United States being the largest exporter of defense equipment across the world, there is a steady flow of contracts for its combat-proven weaponry from both Pentagon and its foreign allies. With military jets and helicopters constituting a major portion of a nation’s armaments, there is a steady flow of contracts for these.

Bell-Boeing’s primary product, V-22 Osprey is a family of multi-mission, tiltrotor military aircraft with both vertical as well as short takeoff and landing capabilities. It is designed to combine the functionality of a conventional helicopter with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop aircraft. Notably, the CV-22 is a variant of the V-22 family of jets and helps conduct long-range infiltration, exfiltration and resupply missions for special operations forces.

Considering these features of the aforementioned family of tiltrotors and the growing demand for military aircraft, V-22 and its variants enjoy decent demand across the globe. The latest deal win is a bright example of that.

Jet Manufacturers’ Prospects

Per a forecast made by Mordor Intelligence, the global military aircraft market size is projected to register a CAGR of 3% during the 2021-2030 period. This surely is going to benefit major U.S. combat aircraft manufacturers like Bell-Boeing, Lockheed (LMT - Free Report) and Northrop Grumman (NOC - Free Report) , with North America dominating this market space.

Lockheed Martin is one of the pioneers in the combat aircraft space, with its product portfolio constituting some of the most advanced military aircraft like F-35, C-130, F-16, F-22 and a few more. Of these, F-35 is the company’s largest program.

Interestingly, Lockheed reported third-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings of $6.66 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a whopping 239.8%. In the past year, the stock has gained 4.5%.

On the other hand, Northrop is a renowned manufacturer of autonomous and manned aircraft like MQ-4C Triton and Global Hawk. These jets are used for battle management, strike and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR).

Notably, Northrop reported third-quarter 2021 earnings of $6.63 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 11.8%. In the past year, the stock has gained 35.8%.

Price Movement & Zacks Rank

Textron’s stock has gained 57.3% in the past year against the industry’s decline of 29.2%. Boeing’s shares have slipped 0.6% in the past year.

 

Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment Research

 

Zacks Investment ResearchImage Source: Zacks Investment Research

Both Textron and Boeing currently carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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