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 Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems 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 Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems and Inc.

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.

Mercury Systems, Inc., engages in the aerospace and defense electronics industry. The company manufactures and sells components, products, modules, and subsystems for defense prime contractors, original equipment manufacturers, government, and commercial aerospace companies. It offers components, including power amplifiers and limiters, switches, oscillators, filters, equalizers, digital and analog converters, chips, monolithic microwave integrated circuits, and memory and storage devices; modules and sub-assemblies, such as embedded processing boards, switched fabrics and boards, digital receivers, multi-chip modules, integrated radio frequency and microwave multi-function assemblies, tuners, and transceivers, as well as graphics and video; and integrated subsystems. The company also designs, develops, and manufactures digital radio frequency memory units for various modern electronic warfare applications; radar environment simulation and test systems for defense and intelligence applications; and signals intelligence payloads and EO/IR technologies for small UAV platforms, as well as onboard UAV processor systems for real-time wide area motion imagery. It operates in the United States, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company was formerly known as Mercury Computer Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Mercury Systems, Inc. in November 2012. Mercury Systems, Inc. was incorporated in 1981 and is headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts.

Latest Aerospace & Defense and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems, Inc. Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. had a $9.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Aerospace & Defense median of $3.9 million. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.’s stock is down 36.6% in 2026, down 10.4% in the previous five trading days and down 27.71% in the past year.

Currently, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 282.7. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $1.5 billion with a 2.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 30.5%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $0.817 per share for the current fiscal year. Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

As of September 2, 2026, Mercury Systems, Inc. had a $5.0 billion market cap, putting it in the 67th percentile of all stocks. Mercury Systems, Inc.’s stock is up 16% in 2026, down 6.4% in the previous five trading days and up 22.04% in the past year.

Currently, Mercury Systems, Inc. does not have a price-earnings ratio. Mercury Systems, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $983.6 million with a -3.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 6.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $1.672 per share for the current fiscal year. Mercury Systems, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

How We Compare Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems 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 Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.	KTOS	F
Mercury Systems, Inc.	MRCY	F

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.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a Value Score of 5, which is Ultra Expensive. Mercury Systems, Inc. has a Value Score of 10, which is Ultra Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems or Inc. has a high enough value 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 portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems and Inc. Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.	KTOS	C
Mercury Systems, Inc.	MRCY	D

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.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a Growth Score of 56, which is Average. Mercury Systems, Inc. has a Growth Score of 26, which is Weak.

The Growth Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems 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 Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to sustainable growth.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc.	KTOS	D
Mercury Systems, Inc.	MRCY	C

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.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. has a Quality Score of 29, which is Weak. Mercury Systems, Inc. has a Quality Score of 57, which is Average.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems 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 Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Other Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems and Inc. Grades

In addition to Value, Growth and Quality, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Estimate Revisions.

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.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

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 Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 5, Growth Score of 56 and Quality Score of 29.

Mercury Systems, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 10, Growth Score of 26 and Quality Score of 57.

Comparing Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., Mercury Systems 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.