Kratos vs. Rocket Lab: Which Under-the-Radar Defense Stock Will Make You Richer?

2 hours ago 1

Courtney Carlsen, The Motley Fool

Sat, March 21, 2026 astatine 9:05 AM CDT 5 min read

Defense stocks are making headlines amid a surge successful planetary subject enactment and nationalist information spending. The marketplace is gearing up for a multiyear rearmament cycle, and defence companies' backlogs are increasing substantially.

Two under-the-radar defense stocks that are poised for maturation are Kratos (NASDAQ: KTOS) and Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB). While galore investors absorption connected the big-name premier contractors, mid-tier companies are shaking up high-growth niches successful the defence industry.

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If you're looking to turn your portfolio, present whitethorn beryllium the clip to see Kratos and Rocket Lab. But which 1 is the amended bargain today? Let's dive into the details and find out.

A idiosyncratic   looks astatine  respective  monitors successful  a dark, modern   power  room.

Image source: Getty Images.

Kratos is simply a dedicated defence contractor with astir of its concern focused connected nationalist security. Last year, astir 68% of its full gross came from the U.S. government, including overseas subject sales. The institution chiefly focuses connected unmanned aerial systems, outer crushed stations, microwave electronics, and rocket defense.

What makes Kratos appealing is that it is simply a disruptive mid-tier contractor that builds high-tech hardware astatine a little outgo than premier contractors specified arsenic Lockheed Martin oregon RTX. Kratos says that "affordability is simply a technology" and aims to beryllium the archetypal to marketplace with cost-effective solutions. Kratos doesn't vie straight with premier contractors; it works arsenic a adjacent spouse with companies similar Northrop Grumman and GE Aerospace to integrate its hardware into broader systems.

Last year, Kratos was awarded a $1.45 cardinal declaration for the MACH-TB 2.0 program, which aims to beryllium a investigating sandbox for the Pentagon's hypersonic technologies. This declaration is the largest successful the company's past and a cornerstone of its expanding hypersonic business, which is projected to treble gross to astir $400 cardinal successful 2026.

Another increasing conception of its concern is Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), wherever it manufactures the Valkyrie tactical drone, which has been selected arsenic the archetypal Collaborative Combat Aircraft nether the U.S. Marine Corps MUX TACAIR program, serving arsenic an unmanned spouse for manned fighters similar the F-35. Kratos is simply a cardinal subcontractor with Northrop Grumman connected the $231.5 cardinal declaration awarded successful January.

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