Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (HII)

Huntington Ingalls Industries is the nations largest specialized military shipbuilder and "the sole designer and builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy," led by President and CEO Christopher Kastner. The company’s mission is to deliver the worlds most powerful naval platforms to defend American interests. HII holds a strategic position as an indispensable pillar of US national security, operating the historic Newport News and Ingalls shipyards. Huntington Ingalls Industries stock is a premier "Defense and Naval Modernization" play, representing a company that is currently managing a multi-decade backlog of Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarine programs.

The company’s business operations are divided into Newport News Shipbuilding, Ingalls Shipbuilding, and Mission Technologies. In late 2025, HII reported a record backlog of $48 billion, driven by the specialized "AUKUS" agreement and the U.S. Navy’s push for a 350-ship fleet. The company’s future strategy involves "Digital Shipbuilding and Autonomy," with 2026 targets focused on expanding its specialized "REMUS" unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) production and its specialized "Mission Technologies" division, which provides AI-driven cyber and intelligence solutions. For 2026, the firm is prioritizing its specialized "Submarine Industrial Base" (SIB) expansion to meet the high production rates required by the Navy. Its competitive moat is "Geopolitical Irreplaceability"—it would take decades and hundreds of billions of dollars to replicate the specialized nuclear-certified shipyards and the 44,000-strong skilled workforce HII possesses. By December 2025, HII stands as a technologically advanced and vital leader in the defense sector, utilizing its engineering scale to ensure American maritime dominance.

HII is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker HII stock. It is a favorite for value-oriented defense investors who prize its long-term revenue visibility and its role as a "sole-source" provider on mission-critical programs. Financial analysts and naval experts monitor the HII stock price as a primary gauge of US defense spending and the health of the US maritime industrial base. By December 2025, HII remains a resilient and powerful force in the global security industry, utilizing its technical superiority to build the shields of the nation.