{"id":115762,"date":"2017-11-01T10:28:55","date_gmt":"2017-11-01T14:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/?p=115762"},"modified":"2018-06-01T15:53:33","modified_gmt":"2018-06-01T15:53:33","slug":"stock-wars-northrop-grumman-vs-caterpillar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/2017\/11\/stock-wars-northrop-grumman-vs-caterpillar\/","title":{"rendered":"Stock Wars: Northrop Grumman vs. Caterpillar"},"content":{"rendered":"
November 1, 2017<\/div>
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By WallStreetDaily.com<\/u><\/a> \"Stock<\/p>\n

\"LouisNothing underscores human ingenuity better than giant, finely tuned machines.<\/p>\n

Think bulldozers and rocket ships.<\/p>\n

Most of us will never get a chance to captain either of those glorious \u201crigs.\u201d<\/p>\n

But nothing can stop us from investing in them!<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t noticed, Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) are each sitting near all-time highs.<\/p>

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So which company is more worthy of our investment dollars?<\/p>\n

I asked my senior analysts to battle it out.<\/p>\n

Your vote decides the winner.<\/p>\n

Good luck, gentlemen!<\/p>\n

Integral to Our Nation\u2019s Defense<\/h2>\n

\"MartinIf there is one military need that the United States requires above all else, it\u2019s missile defense.<\/p>\n

Obama \u2014 like previous Democratic administrations \u2014 neglected and underfunded this initiative. They claimed that the \u201cStar Wars\u201d missile defense concept was a fantasy of President Reagan that couldn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

However, the recent activities of \u201cLittle Rocket Man\u201d Kim Jong Un of North Korea, along with the rapid surge toward a nuclear capability in Iran, make missile defense in the U.S. a crucial No. 1 priority.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, we may face the consequences in a few years when we\u2019ll be saying \u201cHasta la vista, Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure enough, the 2018 U.S. defense budget has included an additional $20 billion beyond 2017 spending in this area.<\/p>\n

And Northrop Grumman Corp. has the most to gain from the budget expansion. The company is a leader in both offensive and defensive missile technology.<\/p>\n

It was largely responsible for a successful U.S. missile defense test in May when the Pentagon shot down a mock intercontinental ballistic missile using a long-range interceptor missile.<\/p>\n

So the company stands to benefit greatly as that system is beefed up in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Northrop Grumman has also received a preliminary contract to design and test a replacement for the entire U.S. Minuteman missile fleet.<\/p>\n

The company has grown earnings in each of the last five years and that growth is projected to continue.<\/p>\n

At 23 times earnings, I expect the company to take maximum economic advantage of the next great U.S. defense buildup.<\/p>\n

Providing a Basic Human Need<\/h2>\n

\"JonathanAs long as humans roam the earth, we\u2019ll need to build big, strong things to keep us alive and productive.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talking about buildings, roads, bridges, mines\u2026 you name it.<\/p>\n

And thanks to heavy machinery, we can do it faster \u2014 and cheaper \u2014 than ever before.<\/p>\n

Founded nearly a century ago in California, Caterpillar Inc. is the world\u2019s largest maker of construction equipment.<\/p>\n

The industrial giant boasts a current market value of $81 billion.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the financial crisis, many construction projects were halted or shelved indefinitely around the world.<\/p>\n

And as a result, Caterpillar suffered through several consecutive years of losses.<\/p>\n

But thanks to steep economic recoveries in Latin America and Asia in 2016, Caterpillar has snapped its sales and earnings \u201crecessions\u201d to become one of the Dow Jones\u2019 best performers.<\/p>\n

In fact, the company has beaten earnings estimates in seven of the last eight quarters.<\/p>\n

And annual earnings are projected to rise by more than 80% over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n

Better still, the company trades at 18.2 times forward earnings \u2014 a discount to the industry of 14%.<\/p>\n

The stock has soared on the stellar projections\u2026<\/p>\n

In the last two years, shares have gained a whopping 88%.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s nearly triple the rise of the Dow over the same period.<\/p>\n

To be fair, the big knock on Caterpillar is that it sits on $25 billion in long-term debt \u2013 most of which was incurred post-recession.<\/p>\n

But the company has paid down more than 40% of its debt from an all-time peak of $41 billion in 2013.<\/p>\n

And with improving fundamentals around the globe \u2014 and a $1 trillion infrastructure bill backed by the White House \u2014 Caterpillar\u2019s soaring stock has plenty of fuel to keep chugging.<\/p>\n

Time to Vote<\/h2>\n

\"LouisWell, you\u2019ve heard what Hutch and Jonathan had to say.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s time to vote\u2026<\/p>\n

Which company would you invest in based on their analysis?<\/p>\n

Your vote decides the winner\u2026<\/p>\n

Click here to vote now.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Ahead of the tape,<\/p>\n

Louis Basenese
\nChief Investment Strategist, Wall Street Daily<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Stock Wars: Northrop Grumman vs. Caterpillar<\/a> appeared first on Wall Street Daily<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By WallStreetDaily.com Nothing underscores human ingenuity better than giant, finely tuned machines. Think bulldozers and rocket ships. Most of us will never get a chance to captain either of those glorious \u201crigs.\u201d But nothing can stop us from investing in them! If you haven\u2019t noticed, Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) are each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","no-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115762"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115786,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115762\/revisions\/115786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}