Kratos (KTOS) Opens Space Domain Awareness Facility in India
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. KTOS announced that it opened a new India-based Space Domain Awareness (“SDA”) facility, which has increased Kratos’ global satellite tracking coverage by more than 30%.
The primary objective of the SDA network is to monitor the behavior of space-based radio frequency (“RF”) signals to identify critical information about satellites in orbit, such as their position, maneuvering, health, proximity to other satellites and more. Kratos’ SDA network includes over twenty worldwide sites hosting more than 140 fixed and steerable RF sensors and antennas. The network is capable of tracking and detecting space vehicles and provides real-time data to its customers.
With more than 500 satellites operating in the geosynchronous orbit (“GEO”), the role of Kratos’ network becomes very critical and governments as well as commercial organizations rely on Kratos to safeguard their million-dollar equipment in space.
Need to Track Space Objects
The GEO belt is getting congested with numerous satellites sent by different nations. Per Fortune Business Insights, the global space situational awareness (“SSA”) market is projected to grow from $1.27 billion in 2021 to $1.73 billion in 2028, witnessing a CAGR of 5.27% in the forecast period. Per the report, the U.S. Space Command has been tracking and monitoring more than 28,000 space objects, of which only 3,373 are active satellites. The growing volume of space objects is increasing the need for tracking and driving the market.
More satellites are likely to be launched in the upcoming years by many organizations to get accurate information about weather, navigation, broadcasting, scientific research and Earth observation. The SDA network’s importance will continue to rise and it is expected that more aerospace & defense companies will start operations in this space.
The Australian Defense Force is on a new mission to establish a comprehensive understanding of the space domain. Lockheed Martin’s LMT unit, Lockheed Martin Australia Space and Curtin University jointly developed FireOPAL, a wide-field-of-view sensor that offers accurate and persistent surveillance of the space domain at all orbital regimes — low, medium and geostationary.
Price Performance
In the past three months, shares of Kratos have increased by 9.5% compared with the industry’s growth of 4.7%.
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Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Kratos currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks from the same sector are CurtissWright Corporation CW and TransDigm Group, Inc. TDG, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CW’s 2023 earnings per share (EPS) indicates an increase of 8.5% from the previous year’s level. The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 4.03% in the last four quarters.
TDG’s long-term (three- to five-year) earnings growth rate is 25.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for TDG’s fiscal 2023 EPS indicates an improvement of 40.2% from that recorded in the previous year.
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Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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