On September 16, CACI International Inc. (NYSE:CACI) announced it had received a new award to support US Central Command’s information advantage and irregular warfare missions, with a ceiling of $1.5 billion and roughly $1.2 billion expected to be booked. The news lands about six weeks after CACI closed out a fiscal year that pushed revenue past $9.5 billion. Together, the two updates describe a company still winning work at a steady pace, even as the balance sheet behind that growth has gotten noticeably heavier.
Wins Keep Piling Up
Under the new award, called Apollo, CACI will help US Central Command’s mission partners move information into action across intelligence, planning, and coordination work, building on the company’s track record supporting irregular warfare missions for other combatant commands. It follows a run of broad-based demand across the government. CACI landed a border drone-defense deployment for the Department of War, a six-year Department of Veterans Affairs contract worth up to $308 million, a Navy Military Sealift Command deal worth up to $113 million, and a role alongside Oracle on a nearly $400 million federal HR modernization project.
That spread across defense, intelligence, and civilian customers shows up clearly in the numbers. Revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30 reached $9.6 billion, up 10.9% from a year earlier, with 7.2% of that growth coming organically rather than from acquisitions. The fourth quarter alone grew revenue 17.6% year over year and 15.2% sequentially. Contract awards for the year totaled $10.2 billion, which pushed total backlog to $32.0 billion and lifted funded backlog 28.6% to $5.4 billion. Management’s guidance for fiscal 2027 calls for revenue of $10.65 billion to $10.85 billion and free cash flow of at least $900 million, extending the same trend.
The Bill Comes With Growth
That expansion has come at a cost. CACI spent $2.64 billion on acquisitions in fiscal 2026, more than it spent the year before, and long-term debt nearly doubled to $4.85 billion from $2.85 billion, largely tied to the ARKA acquisition. Interest expense for the year rose 35.6% to $215.5 million, and in the fourth quarter that expense helped push net income down 0.7% to $156.8 million even as revenue climbed double digits. Diluted earnings per share slipped 1.3% in the quarter to $7.05, partly because the income tax provision jumped from $3.1 million a year earlier to $43.4 million.
The contract mix is shifting too: fixed-price work made up 34.8% of fourth-quarter revenue, up from 26.9% a year earlier, and those contracts shift more of the execution risk onto CACI rather than the customer. None of this changes what the company itself discloses as a standing risk: that its business depends heavily on U.S. government funding decisions, appropriations timing, and the outcome of bid protests and re-competes.
What The Market Is Watching
Hedge fund ownership of CACI fell to 35 funds from 44 in the prior quarter, a pullback suggesting some institutional money trimmed positions even as the CENTCOM award and the fiscal year results rolled in. Short interest sits at 5.44% of float, a modest but real bear presence rather than a crowded trade. The stock trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 17.83, as of September 17, a multiple that does not look stretched given the growth the company just posted. Fewer funds holding the name alongside an undemanding valuation leaves room for either side of the debate to keep arguing its case.
Two Stories, One Stock
CACI heads into fiscal 2027 with more work in hand than a year ago and a fresh national security mandate in the Middle East, but also with a heavier debt load and a contract mix that carries more execution risk than it used to. Backlog growth turning into the free cash flow guidance promises would vindicate the recent buildout. A stretch of rising interest costs or fixed-price stumbles would hand the skeptics their argument instead. The next few quarters should make clear which pressure is winning.
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