Thursday, November 17, 2011

Defense Stocks Could Rally on Supercommittee Compromise

The so-called supecommittee, tasked with finding a way to reduce the national debt by at least $1.2 trillion over 10 years, is facing a looming deadline. It it fails to agree on a proposal by November 23, there will be automatic spending cuts. There are those who would welcome such a dire outcome. The problem is that some of those automatic cuts would put our national security at risk. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned that such cuts would be devastating.

For this reason, I am still hopeful that the committee will find some resolution. It is difficult to believe that even the most partisan politician would be willing to put our nation at risk. If a compromise is reached, defense stocks could rally. Some of my favorites include Raytheon (RTN), ManTech International (MANT), and ITT Exelis (XLS). All three also pay generous dividends.