3 Under-the-Radar Defense Stocks With Record Backlogs

Today, we’ll look beyond the prime contractors like Lockheed Martin Inc. NYSE: LMT and RTX Inc. NYSE: RTX to three lesser-known defense stocks. Each company posted a record backlog in its most recent earnings report, but record backlogs don’t always translate into record profits. We’ll dig into the numbers and find out which company is best positioned to actually monetize its growing order book. Get Ducommun alerts: Sign Up ATI: Specialty Materials Producer With Pricing Power Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, better known as ATI Inc. NYSE: ATI, is the largest company on our list, with a $27.8 billion market cap and more than $4.5 billion in trailing 12-month sales. ATI Today ATI ATI $210.52 -0.13 (-0.06%) As of 09/4/2026 03:58 PM Eastern 52-Week Range $74.45 ▼ $243.57 P/E Ratio 61.74 Price Target $232.00 Add to Watchlist Much of the company’s recent growth has come from transforming the Flat Rolled Products segment into Advanced Alloys and Solutions (AA&S). Flat Rolled Products was a cyclical industrial segment making steel, nickel, and plate metal products. But AA&S has become a crucial defense supplier, and aerospace now makes up more than 44% of segment revenue according to the company’s Q2 2026 numbers. ATI has built its niche around hafnium and zirconium, two minerals only a handful of firms worldwide can produce to aerospace and military standards. Defense demand has run hot enough that the company has deliberately withdrawn capacity from other segments to reallocate it to defense orders with closer delivery dates. ATI expects to deliver 70% of its record $4.4 billion backlog within the next 12 months. Management believes AA&S margins are sustainable in the mid-20% range, giving the company pricing power that the other two on our list can’t match. ATI also has the cleanest chart of the three stocks, with strong support along the 50-day moving average (MA) and a Relative Strength Index (RSI) that rarely stays below 50 for long. We’ve reached another inflection point with shares testing the 50-day MA, which has been a good entry point for investors on the past three occasions. Astronics: Cleanest Defense Link But Highest Leverage If you want to crank up the risk/reward level of your mid-cap defense stocks, Astronics Corp. NASDAQ: ATRO can provide the leverage. Astronics Today ATRO Astronics $76.26 0.00 (0.00%) As of 09/4/2026 04:00 PM Eastern 52-Week Range $30.72 ▼ $94.46 P/E Ratio 44.86 Price Target $74.17 Add to Watchlist The company recorded less than $950 million in sales in the last 12 months, but its rapid growth in onboard flight hardware and components has driven the stock up more than 65% year-to-date (YTD). Astronics reported $260 million in revenue during its Q2 2026 earnings call, with more than $237 million com...