KTOS

The Zacks Earnings ESP is a great way to find potential earnings surprises. Why investors should take advantage now.

Drone stocks such as AeroVironment NASDAQ: AVAV, Red Cat Holdings NASDAQ: RCAT, and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions NASDAQ: KTOS are down significantly in 2026, driven by macroeconomic and sector-specific headwinds and company-specific hurdles that mask the mounting potential. While near-term events have weighed on their stock prices, backlogs continue to swell.

Buried inside President Trump's Fiscal Year 2027 defense budget request sits a line item that dwarfs almost every other increase in the document.

Kratos (KTOS) has an impressive earnings surprise history and currently possesses the right combination of the two key ingredients for a likely beat in its next quarterly report.

Investors looking for ways to find stocks that are set to beat quarterly earnings estimates should check out the Zacks Earnings ESP.

Kratos Defense expands unmanned systems and missile production with new contracts and capacity investments while building for rising defense demand.

106,000 Square Foot Facility Expansion Reflects Increased Demand for Kratos Jet Drones and Kratos' Continued Investment in Strengthening the United States Defense Industrial Base Through Scalable, Efficient Manufacturing Capacity Capable of Producing Affordable, Mission-Ready Systems at Quantity and at Speed 106,000 Square Foot Facility Expansion Reflects Increased Demand for Kratos Jet Drones and Kratos' Continued Investment in Strengthening the United States Defense Industrial Base Through Scalable, Efficient Manufacturing Capacity Capable of Producing Affordable, Mission-Ready Systems at Quantity and at Speed

SAN DIEGO, July 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a technology company in the defense, national security and global markets, today announced that it has recently received an approximate $36 million sole-source contract award for a new air defense missile system. Kratos is a recognized industry leader in the rapid engineering, development and production at scale of affordable military-grade hardware, products and systems, including for hypersonic, missile, radar, air defense, directed energy, high-powered microwave, counter unmanned aerial system (C-UAS), chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN), unmanned aerial drone, strategic, and other systems.

KTOS sees the proposed Golden Dome missile defense initiative as a long-term growth opportunity backed by its investments in scalable defense technologies.

Futures are trading lower as we get ready to start the third quarter after a record-setting second quarter that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average close at 52,317, up 0.26% to finish the venerable index's best first half since 2021, while the Nasdaq finished the session at 26,213, up 1.52% for the tech-heavy index's best quarterly finish since 2020.