With U.S. military strikes top and center in the news, readers have been introduced to some of the most advanced and powerful weaponry built by aerospace and defense companies.

Because of the complexity of government procurement processes, the use of certain missiles doesn’t necessarily mean the makers of those weapons will benefit from near-term increases in sales. But it’s helpful for investors to know which contractors have been most successful recently, and which are most favored by analysts.

Tomahawk cruise missiles, manufactured by Raytheon Co. US:RTN, were used against a Syrian airfield on April 6. The Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB), or “mother of all bombs,” is made by Boeing Co. US:BA and was used against Islamic State terrorists in Afghanistan last week. Raytheon is the fourth-largest U.S. defense contractor, with a market capitalization of $44.5 billion, while Boeing is the biggest player, with a market cap of $106.8 billion.

There are 28 aerospace and defense companies in the S&P 1500 Composite Index, which comprises the large-cap S&P 500 US:SPX, the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index US:MID and the S&P 500 Small-Cap 600 Index US:SML. The industry’s stocks as a group are up 7% this year, with dividends reinvested, while the S&P 1500 is up 4%.

Since Donald Trump was elected president Nov. 8, the aerospace and defense industry group has risen 15%, compared with 10% for the index. Trump has said he wishes to increase defense spending by 10%, or by $54 billion.

It remains to be seen if the president will get his way, but the stock market tends to be forward-looking, and the recent action shows investors believe favorable times are ahead for defense contractors.

Here are several sets of data showing which companies have excelled and which are favored most by Wall Street analysts.

The Big Five

There are five U.S. aerospace and defense companies with market caps over $40 billion — the Big Five. Here they are, in size order, along a comparison of total returns for their stocks, compared to the index:

Company Ticker Total return - 2017 through April 13 Total return 2016 Total return - 3 years Total return - 5 years Boeing Co. US:BA 13% 11% 57% 174% Lockheed Martin Corp. US:LMT 7% 18% 90% 257% General Dynamics Corp. US:GD 8% 28% 89% 205% Raytheon Co. US:RTN 7% 17% 69% 230% Northrop Grumman Corp. US:NOC 3% 25% 117% 342% S&P 1500 Index 4% 13% 36% 89% Source: FactSet

The numbers are breathtaking, and the forward price-to-earnings ratios have risen by quite a bit over the past year:

Company Ticker Closing price - April 13 Consensus 2018 EPS estimate Price/consensus 2018 EPS estimate Price/consensus 2017 EPS on April 13, 2016 Boeing Co. US:BA $175.62 $10.26 17.1 14.0 Lockheed Martin Corp. US:LMT $268.00 $14.04 19.1 16.6 General Dynamics Corp. US:GD $186.73 $10.54 17.7 13.4 Raytheon Co. US:RTN $151.75 $8.30 18.3 15.8 Northrop Grumman Corp. US:NOC $240.20 $13.34 18.0 16.8 Source: FactSet

In comparison, the S&P 1500 is trading for 16 times consensus 2018 EPS estimates. This chart shows the movement of forward P/E ratios for the big five aerospace/defense stocks over the past five years:

FactSet

You can see that, at times, the valuations have been even higher than they are now.

Even though the rise in forward P/E valuations over the past year doesn’t necessarily mean the stocks won’t perform well, analysts have majority “buy” ratings for only two of the Big Five:

Company Ticker Share ‘buy’ ratings Share neutral ratings Share ‘sell’ ratings Closing price - April 13 Consensus price target Implied 12-month upside potential Boeing Co. US:BA 48% 37% 15% $175.62 $178.86 2% Lockheed Martin Corp. US:LMT 45% 55% 0% $268.00 $280.22 5% General Dynamics Corp. US:GD 71% 29% 0% $186.73 $201.17 8% Raytheon Co. US:RTN 76% 24% 0% $151.75 $168.71 11% Northrop Grumman Corp. US:NOC 43% 57% 0% $240.20 $255.56 6% Source: FactSet

It’s clear that analysts don’t expect major excitement for the Big Five, at least overt the next 12 months.

One more look at the Big Five — this time, increases in sales per share over the past 12 reported months, through April 13:

Company Sales per share - past 12 reported months Sales per share - year-earlier period Growth of sales per share Sales - past 12 months ($mil) Sales - year-earlier period ($mil) Change in sales Boeing Co. $147.78 $138.42 6.8% $94,571 $96,114 -1.6% Lockheed Martin Corp. $164.89 $146.70 12.4% $49,919 $46,132 8.2% General Dynamics Corp. $101.09 $96.40 4.9% $31,353 $31,469 -0.4% Raytheon Co. $81.11 $76.22 6.4% $24,069 $23,247 3.5% Northrop Grumman Corp. $135.82 $122.88 10.5% $24,508 $23,256 4.2% Source: FactSet

We are showing both sales per share and raw revenue, because the per-share figures reflect any dilution (increase in the share count) that may take place if a company’s funds an acquisition with stock, or issues shares for any other reason. The per-share numbers also show the benefit of any decline in the share count from buybacks. The Big Five all have lowered their share counts through stock repurchases over the past 12 months, which has significantly boosted sales per share, and even changed negative to positive for Boeing Co. and General Dynamics Corp. US:GD.

Ranking aerospace/defense stocks

So now we will look at the entire group of 28 aerospace/defense stocks to rank them in various ways.

Sales growth

First, here are the 10 that have shown the greatest increases in sales per share over the past 12 months, as well as increases in sales in dollars:

Company Ticker Sales per share - past 12 reported months Sales per share - year-earlier period Growth of sales per share Sales - past 12 months ($mil) Sales - year-earlier period ($mil) Change in sales Axon Enterprise Inc. XX:AAX $5.02 $3.62 38.5% $268 $198 35.6% Motorola Solutions Inc. US:MSI $35.00 $28.69 22.0% $6,038 $5,695 6.0% TransDigm Group Inc. US:TDG $58.56 $49.81 17.6% $3,284 $2,822 16.4% Esterline Technologies Corp. US:ESL $68.18 $59.16 15.2% $2,027 $1,812 11.8% Lockheed Martin Corp. US:LMT $164.89 $146.70 12.4% $49,919 $46,132 8.2% AAR Corp. US:AIR $50.68 $45.33 11.8% $1,731 $1,620 6.8% B/E Aerospace Inc. US:BEAV $29.05 $26.12 11.2% $2,933 $2,730 7.4% Northrop Grumman Corp. US:NOC $135.82 $122.88 10.5% $24,508 $23,526 4.2% FLIR Systems Inc. US:FLIR $12.02 $11.08 8.5% $1,662 $1,557 6.7% ESCO Technologies Inc. US:ESE $22.55 $21.10 6.9% $585 $$550 6.4% Source: FactSet

Once again, each company’s per-share figures have been boosted by buybacks.

Cheapest stocks

Here are the 10 S&P 1500 aerospace/defense stocks with the lowest forward P/E ratios:

Company Ticker Closing price - April 13 Consensus 2018 EPS estimate Price/consensus 2018 EPS estimate Price/consensus 2017 EPS on April 13, 2016 Triumph Group Inc. US:TGI $25.00 $4.58 5.5 6.3 Engility Holdings Inc. US:E $26.34 $2.25 11.7 13.2 KLX Inc. US:KLXI $44.52 $3.70 12.0 12.5 Orbital ATK Inc. US:OA $95.31 $6.71 14.2 13.8 AAR Corp. US:AIR $33.01 $2.27 14.6 12.4 Motorola Solutions Inc. US:MSI $82.34 $5.57 14.8 15.2 B/E AerospaceInc. US:BEAV $63.48 $4.06 15.6 13.2 Esterline Technologies Corp. US:ESL $84.15 $5.33 15.8 11.9 Moog Inc. Class A US:MOG $64.92 $4.05 16.0 11.9 Rockwell Collins Inc. US:COL $96.63 $5.95 16.2 15.7 Source: FactSet

While the Big Five have all seen their forward P/E valuations rise over the past year, four of the companies listed above have seen their valuations decline. So let’s see how analysts view them:

Company Ticker Share ‘buy’ ratings Share neutral ratings Share ‘sell’ ratings Closing price - April 13 Consensus price target Implied 12-month upside potential Triumph Group Inc. US:TGI 29% 50% 21% $25.00 $30.08 20% Engility Holdings Inc. US:E 71% 29% 0% $26.34 $37.50 42% KLX Inc. US:KLXI 67% 33% 0% $44.52 $53.60 20% Orbital ATK Inc. US:OA 83% 17% 0% $95.31 $111.56 17% AAR Corp. US:AIR 80% 20% 0% $33.01 $37.75 14% Motorola Solutions Inc. US:MSI 44% 50% 6% $82.34 $85.17 3% B/E Aerospace Inc. US:BEAV 0% 100% 0% $63.48 $62.00 -2% Esterline Technologies Corp. US:ESL 44% 56% 0% $84.15 $95.86 14% Moog Inc. Class A US:MOG 20% 60% 20% $64.92 $64.75 0% Rockwell Collins Inc. US:COL 60% 40% 0% $96.63 $105.81 10% Source: FactSet

So half of the cheapest (by price/consensus 2018 EPS estimate ratios) have majority “buy” ratings.

Most beloved on Wall Street

Let’s take one last look at the data, this time showing all 12 aerospace/defense stocks that have majority “buy” ratings and ranking them by implied 12-month upside potential, based on consensus price targets:

Company Ticker Share ‘buy’ ratings Share neutral ratings Share ‘sell’ ratings Closing price - April 13 Consensus price target Implied 12-month upside potential Engility Holdings Inc. US:EGL 71% 29% 0% $26.34 $37.50 42% Axon Enterprise Inc. US:AAXN 62% 38% 0% $22.04 $30.40 38% Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. US:AJRD 75% 25% 0% $21.20 $26.67 26% TransDigm Group Inc. US:TDG 63% 37% 0% $233.76 $283.41 21% KLX Inc. US:KLXI 67% 33% 0% $44.52 $53.60 20% Orbital ATK Inc. US:OA 83% 17% 0% $95.31 $111.56 17% AAR Corp. US:AIR 80% 20% 0% $33.01 $37.75 14% Cubic Corp. US:CUB 83% 17% 0% $48.80 $54.50 12% Raytheon Co. US:RTN 76% 24% 0% $151.75 $168.71 11% Rockwell Collins Inc. US:COL 60% 40% 0% $96.63 $105.81 10% General Dynamics Corp. US:GD 71% 29% 0% $186.73 $201.17 8% L3 Technologies Inc. US:LLL 56% 44% 0% $166.29 $179.08 8% Source: FactSet

If you see a stock that interests you, it’s critical that do your own research to understand the company’s strategy and decide whether you believe it’s positioned for years of success.