Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) versus L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) Head-To-Head Review

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) and L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) are both large-cap aerospace companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Volatility & Risk

Huntington Ingalls Industries has a beta of 0.37, indicating that its stock price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, L3Harris Technologies has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

90.5% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.8% of L3Harris Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Huntington Ingalls Industries shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of L3Harris Technologies shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Huntington Ingalls Industries and L3Harris Technologies, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Huntington Ingalls Industries	1	5	3	1	2.40
L3Harris Technologies	0	8	11	0	2.58

Huntington Ingalls Industries currently has a consensus target price of $325.75, indicating a potential downside of 9.10%. L3Harris Technologies has a consensus target price of $295.50, indicating a potential downside of 1.20%. Given L3Harris Technologies’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe L3Harris Technologies is more favorable than Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Profitability

This table compares Huntington Ingalls Industries and L3Harris Technologies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Huntington Ingalls Industries	4.74%	11.79%	4.68%
L3Harris Technologies	8.09%	11.08%	5.19%

Dividends

Huntington Ingalls Industries pays an annual dividend of $5.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. L3Harris Technologies pays an annual dividend of $4.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Huntington Ingalls Industries pays out 38.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. L3Harris Technologies pays out 51.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Huntington Ingalls Industries has increased its dividend for 13 consecutive years and L3Harris Technologies has increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years. L3Harris Technologies is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Huntington Ingalls Industries and L3Harris Technologies”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Huntington Ingalls Industries	$11.54 billion	1.22	$550.00 million	$14.48	24.75
L3Harris Technologies	$21.33 billion	2.62	$1.50 billion	$9.31	32.12

L3Harris Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Huntington Ingalls Industries. Huntington Ingalls Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than L3Harris Technologies, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

L3Harris Technologies beats Huntington Ingalls Industries on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Huntington Ingalls Industries

Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. designs, builds, overhauls, and repairs military ships in the United States. It operates through three segments: Ingalls, Newport News, and Mission Technologies. The company is involved in the design and construction of non-nuclear ships comprising amphibious assault ships; expeditionary warfare ships; surface combatants; and national security cutters for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard. It also provides nuclear-powered ships, such as aircraft carriers and submarines, as well as refueling and overhaul, and inactivation services of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. In addition, the company offers naval nuclear support services, including fleet services comprising design, construction, maintenance, and disposal activities for in-service the U.S. Navy nuclear ships; and maintenance services on nuclear reactor prototypes. Further, the company provides C5ISR systems and operations; application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to battlefield decisions; defensive and offensive cyberspace strategies and electronic warfare; live, virtual, and constructive solutions; unmanned, autonomous systems; and fleet sustainment; and critical nuclear operations. Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. was founded in 1886 and is headquartered in Newport News, Virginia.

About L3Harris Technologies

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. provides mission-critical solutions for government and commercial customers worldwide. The company's Integrated Mission Systems segment provides intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) systems, passive sensing and targeting, electronic attack, autonomy, power and communications, and networks and sensors, as well as advanced combat systems for air, land, and sea sectors. Its Space and Airborne Systems segment offers space payloads, sensors, and full-mission solutions; classified intelligence and cyber; mission avionics; electronic warfare systems; and mission networks systems for air traffic management operations. The company's Communication Systems segment provides broadband communications; tactical radios, software, satellite terminals, and end-to-end battlefield systems for the U.S. Department of Defense, international, federal, and state agency customers; integrated vision solutions, including helmet-mounted integrated night vision goggles with leading-edge image intensifier tubes and weapon-mounted sights, aiming lasers, and range finders; and public safety radios, and system applications and equipment. Its Aerojet Rocketdyne segment provides propulsion technologies and armament systems for strategic defense, missile defense, hypersonic, and tactical systems; and space propulsion and power systems for national security, and space and exploration missions. The company was formerly known as Harris Corporation and changed its name to L3Harris Technologies, Inc. in June 2019. L3Harris Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1895 and is based in Melbourne, Florida.