Mr. Tortoriello: If you look at 2008 and then year to date 2009, for 2008 the S&P 1500 Composite Index was down 38.2%, the aerospace and defense portion of that Index was down 37.6%, so a little bit less than the Index from 2008. Year to date through May 1, the S&P 1500 is down 2.4% and the aerospace and defense companies are down 3.7%.
TWST: So they fared reasonably well in this recovery?
Mr. Tortoriello: Yes. I think what you would probably see if you looked at the
individual stocks is that there is a broad range, but when you take the average,
they've done about average.
TWST: Alex, as you look at the space, where are we today, given the change in
Administration and in defense?
Mr. Hamilton: If you just look at commercial aerospace, macroeconomic concerns
weighed heavily on the stocks. What we've seen since the beginning of 2009 is
the stocks rebounding a bit. Certain names are performing a little better than
we expected in the sense that this "less worse" scenario continues to play out.
If we look at defense stocks in particular, I tend to concentrate more on names
that are platform independent and are going to be more insulated from defense
cuts going forward.
Tickers included in this excerpt: BA, CELG, GR, HEI, TGI, TXT, UTX
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