Huntington Ingalls (HII) PT Lowered to $387 at Bernstein SocGen Group
Bernstein SocGen Group analyst Douglas Harned lowered the price target on Huntington Ingalls (NYSE: HII) to $387.00 (from $421.00) while maintaining a Market Perform rating.
The analyst commented: "HII reported diluted EPS of $3.79, above consensus estimates of $3.74, and our estimate of $3.61. The beat was driven by higher revenue and better margins at Newport News. Despite strong growth at both Ingalls and Newport News, shipbuilding full-year guidance was not raised. Full-year FCF guidance of $500mn–$600mn was reaffirmed (Q1: -$464mn; Q2: - $100mn to $100mn), implying ~$1bn in H2 2026, driven by contract advances, tax benefits from the R&D tax credit, and working capital improvement. The FY2027 budget request sees further increase in shipbuilding budget with more funding for the Columbia Class and Virginia Class. But, to capture the value, we still look for more throughput improvement and margin expansion at Newport News. Budget documents indicate that delivery timelines for LHAs, LPDs, and DDGs have been pushed to the right relative to the FY2026 plan. Separately, we have seen broad weakness in defense stocks, relative to higher growth parts of the market."