Sifting through countless of stocks in the Aerospace & Defense industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.
Read on to learn how Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.
About Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc.
Ducommun Incorporated provides engineering and manufacturing services for products and applications used in the aerospace and defense, industrial, medical, and other industries in the United States. It operates through two segments, Electronic Systems and Structural Systems. The Electronic Systems segment provides cable assemblies and interconnect systems; printed circuit board assemblies; electronic, electromechanical, and mechanical components and assemblies, as well as lightning diversion systems; and radar enclosures, aircraft avionics racks, shipboard communications and control enclosures, wire harnesses, interconnect systems, lightning diversion strips, surge suppressors, conformal shields, and other assemblies. This segment also supplies engineered products, including illuminated pushbutton switches and panels for aviation and test systems; microwave and millimeter switches and filters for radio frequency systems and test instrumentation; and motors and resolvers for motion control, as well as provides engineering services for aerospace system design, development, integration, and testing service. The Structural Systems segment designs, engineers, and manufactures complex contoured aerostructure components assemblies and supplies, including composite and metal bonded structures, precision profile extrusions, extruded assemblies, ammunition handling systems, seals, and aerodynamic systems; designs, engineers, and manufactures contoured aluminum, titanium, and Inconel aero structure components; structural assembly products, such as winglets, engine components, fuselage structural panels; aircraft wing spoilers, fuselage skins, rotor blades, flight control surfaces, engine nacelle components, feed and eject chutes, storage magazines, custom gun mounts. It serves commercial aircraft, military fixed-wing aircraft, military and commercial rotary-wing aircraft, and space programs. The company was founded in 1849 and is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California.
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., a technology company, provides technology, hardware, products, system, and software for the defense, national security, and commercial markets in the United States, other North America, the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, and Internationally. The company operates through Kratos Government Solutions and Unmanned Systems segments. It offers virtualized ground systems for satellites and space vehicles, including software for command and control, telemetry, and tracking and control; jet powered unmanned aerial drone systems and hypersonic vehicles and rocket systems; propulsion systems for drones, missiles, loitering munitions, supersonic systems, spacecraft and launch systems, command, control, communication, computing, combat, and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance; and microwave electronic products for missile, radar, missile defense, space, and satellite; and counter unmanned aircraft systems, directed energy, communication and other systems, and virtual and augmented reality training systems for the warfighter. The company primarily serves national security-related agencies, the U.S. Department of Defense, intelligence and classified agencies, international government agencies, and domestic and international commercial customers. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. was formerly known as Wireless Facilities, Inc. and changed its name to Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. in August 1999. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
Latest Aerospace & Defense and Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. Stock News
As of July 30, 2026, Ducommun Incorporated had a $2.8 billion market capitalization, compared to the Aerospace & Defense median of $3.5 million. Ducommun Incorporated’s stock is up 88.2% in 2026, up 0.9% in the previous five trading days and up 102.17% in the past year.
Currently, Ducommun Incorporated does not have a price-earnings ratio. Ducommun Incorporated’s trailing 12-month revenue is $841.4 million with a -3.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 8.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $4.159 per share for the current fiscal year. Ducommun Incorporated does not currently pay a dividend.
As of July 30, 2026, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. had a $8.6 billion market cap, putting it in the 75th percentile of all stocks. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.’s stock is down 38.6% in 2026, down 1.6% in the previous five trading days and down 19.13% in the past year.
Currently, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 268.4. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.4 billion with a 2.1% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 22.6%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $0.777 per share for the current fiscal year. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.
How We Compare Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc. Stock Grades
Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.
AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.
Learn more about A+ Investor here!
Sign Up to Receive a Free Special Report Showing How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Smarter Investment Decisions
Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc. Growth Grades
| Company | Ticker | Growth |
| Ducommun Incorporated | DCO | C |
| Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. | KTOS | C |
The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.
In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.
The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.
Ducommun Incorporated has a Growth Score of 44, which is Average.
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a Growth Score of 56, which is Average.
The Growth Stock Winner: No Clear Winner
Neither Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions or Inc. has a high enough Growth Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to sustainable growth.
Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc.’s Quality Grades
| Company | Ticker | Quality |
| Ducommun Incorporated | DCO | C |
| Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. | KTOS | D |
Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.
The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.
The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.
Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.
Ducommun Incorporated has a Quality Score of 41, which is Average.
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a Quality Score of 31, which is Weak.
The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner
Neither Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions or Inc. has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to quality.
Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades
| Company | Ticker | Earnings Estimate |
| Ducommun Incorporated | DCO | C |
| Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. | KTOS | B |
Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).
Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.
Ducommun Incorporated has a Earnings Estimate Score of 49, which is Neutral.
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 62, which is Positive.
The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.
As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Ducommun Incorporated. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.
Don’t Forget Your Free Special Report on How A+ Grades Can Help You Make Investment Decisions
Other Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc. Grades
In addition to Growth, Quality and Estimate Revisions, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Momentum.
Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.
Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.
These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.
So, Which Is the Better Investment, Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions or Inc. Stock?
Overall, Ducommun Incorporated stock has a Growth Score of 44, Estimate Revisions Score of 49 and Quality Score of 41.
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. stock has a Growth Score of 56, Estimate Revisions Score of 62 and Quality Score of 31.
Comparing Ducommun Incorporated, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.
Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.
A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.
AAII Disclaimer
We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.
Included With AAII Platinum
at only 6.9%
Gain Since Inception. Data as of 12/31/2024.
769.3% Stock Superstars Portfolio Total Return Since Inception
U.S. Index ETF (IYY)
SSR Group 3 O'Shaughnessy portfolio has a 411.2% gain since inception performance compared to IYY at only 119.1%% Performance as of 11/29/24.
FREE REPORT
BECOME A MEMBER FOR ONLY $2
Get access to powerful investment discovery tools and a wealth of investment education to help you achieve your financial goals.