Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index inched lower to $5,092.63 (-0.17%), extending its losing streak to six days. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average (-0.13%) posted its fourth-straight daily loss, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (+0.60%) and broad S&P 500 Index (+0.39%) stayed positive.
Market volatility rose due to escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia. AI NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA) advanced 4.89% ahead of Wednesday’s highly anticipated Q3 2024 results. The AI king reclaimed the throne as the world’s most valuable company after its market capitalization rose to $3.61 trillion.
GovCon Index Downtrend Continues
Advancers and decliners were even on the GovCon Index, 15-15, but it tilted to negative territory at the close. The downtrend of the index that tracks the stock performance of 30 major government contractors continues. V2X (NYSE: VVX) and Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR) were the top performers, with +3.67% and +2.81%. Jacobs (NYSE: J) topped losers, plunging -4.87%.
Jacobs is the latest defense stock to take a hit, although the technical and professional services firm reported strong earnings growth in Q4 and the full-year fiscal 2024. Bob Pragada, Jacobs’s chairman and CEO, said, “We reached a critical milestone on our strategic shift toward a simpler, higher-value, and higher-margin portfolio.
“In the three months and 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2024, Jacobs’ net income climbed 333.1% and 61.6% year-over-year to $309 million and $613 million, respectively. The total backlog at the quarter’s end was $21.8 billion, 22.5% higher than a year ago. Also, free cash flow and cash conversion exceeded 100%.
Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) declined for the seventh-straight session. Nonetheless, the military and government contractor announced that Deltek’s GovWin recognized the company as a leading cybersecurity provider in its 2024-2028 Federal Cyber Security report. The market intelligence platform said Booz Allen led in cyber-related prime contract obligations from the federal government in the 2021 to 2023 fiscal years.
Contract awards
The US Army awarded KBR (NYSE: KBR) Services a $70.1 million modification to a contract for transportation logistics support services. L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) obtained a $58 million firm-fixed-price modification with the US Navy to a previously awarded contract for equipment and components.
Also, on Tuesday, the US Navy awarded Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) a $42.3 million cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide ongoing support for of the Trident II deployed ballistic missile submarines and the guided missile submarines underwater launcher systems.
