United Technologies Corporation (UTX), Precision Castparts Corp. (PCP), L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. (LLL): These Stocks Can Take Off — and Some Have

L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LLL) gained 40%, and yields 2.4%. It just reported second-quarter revenue up 2%, and earnings per share up 5%. Management noted that the company has been affected by sequestration, but not severely so, at this point. Its funded backlog dropped 1%, to $10.8 billion. Recent good news for L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LLL) is its share of a nearly $1-billion Pentagon IT contract. Its stock was just upgraded from neutral to outperform by Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC).

Other companies didn’t do quite as well over the last year, but could see their fortunes change in the coming years. Rhode Island-based Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT), which makes Cessna jets and Bell helicopters, along with golf carts and many other things, advanced 14%. It recently reporting underwhelming quarterly results (which did top estimates, for the record) as it burns through a lot of cash. Some see the company as a likely target for activist investors with an interest in breaking the company up. Congress has been asked to approve nearly $2 billion in sales to Iraq, which would benefit Textron.

The big picture
Demand for aviation and defense isn’t going away anytime soon. A well-chosen ETF can grant you instant diversification across any industry or group of companies — and make investing in and profiting from it that much easier.

The article These Stocks Can Take Off — and Some Have originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Selena Maranjian.

Longtime Fool contributor Selena Maranjian has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Bank of America and Precision Castparts. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America, L-3 Communications Holdings, and Textron.

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