Global military spending just surged to $2.4 trillion, with the U.S. alone approaching a $1 trillion annual defense budget. MarketBeat’s Chris Markoch shares 3 top defense stocks set to benefit from this spending boom:
🔹 Lockheed Martin (LMT) – The world’s largest defense contractor with exposure to hypersonic weapons, AI-driven defense tech, and space systems, now trading at a discount to historical earnings. Analysts see 17% upside plus a reliable dividend yield near 2.9%.
🔹 General Dynamics (GD) – Winning major contracts for submarines, Abrams tanks, and cybersecurity, supporting strong earnings growth and margin expansion in 2025.
🔹 L3Harris Technologies (LHX) – Positioned to gain from U.S. investments in drone defense, secure communications, and potential “Golden Dome” homeland protection programs. Analysts see further upside as spending in these areas ramps up.
Amid escalating global tensions – from Russia and Ukraine to the Middle East and China’s stance on Taiwan – these defense leaders are well-positioned for growth.
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Bridget Bennett, Host
Digital Media Producer, MarketBeat
Always the talker, Bridget Bennett turned her passion for people and sharing stories into a career in communications. She started working as a journalist in high school at her local county paper in Ellendale, North Dakota. After moving to Dallas for college at Southern Methodist University, she quickly fell in love with visual storytelling and started her career as a news anchor and reporter.
Bridget brings her 12 years of experience in broadcast writing and video production to the MarketBeat content team. She's also an energetic, creative thinker and lifelong learner, so she's always bringing new ideas. Bridget is thrilled to be part of an innovative team that is constantly looking to create useful content people can connect with.
When she's not working, Bridget is a busy mom of three and can be found at just about every activity or outing in town. She is also an adoption and foster care advocate and helps support foster children and families through her nonprofit volunteer work. She and her husband, Jason, grew up together and have spent their lives exploring the world through travel, hiking and ministry.
Chris Markoch, Guest
MarketBeat Contributor, MarketBeat
Chris Markoch is a freelance financial copywriter with over five years of experience covering various aspects of the financial markets. You may find his writing a little different than other stock articles you’ve read. And that’s OK with him. Chris doesn’t have a traditional finance background. What he does bring to the table is a strong business and marketing background having worked for agencies that serviced Fortune 500 companies. With that in mind, he isn’t overly impressed with what companies say, and more focused on what they do. And because buyer behavior dictates so much of what happens with a stock, Chris always keeps the end consumer close in mind. Chris has been writing for MarketBeat since 2018.
