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Britain's largest defense contractor, building combat aircraft, submarines, warships, armored vehicles and electronic systems.
Britain's largest defense contractor, building combat aircraft, submarines, warships, armored vehicles and electronic systems.
Earns from large, multi-year government contracts to build, then support, aircraft, ships and vehicles, so revenue runs from a long backlog. Its largest markets are the US, UK and Saudi Arabia. It is a partner in the F-35 and Typhoon programs and prime contractor on the UK's nuclear submarines.
Moat: wide (regulatory licence, installed base, scale). Sole-source prime on sovereign defense programmes (submarines, Typhoon) with decades-long sustainment contracts.
Headquarters: London, UK · Founded: 1999 · Employees: 104,000
Size BAE Systems (BA..L) is a United Kingdom Industrials company (Aerospace & Defense) with a market value of $72.6B, the 14th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £1,846 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 4.2%, against -1.5% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 9th lowest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 7.2% over the last twelve months (peer median +12.0%); the operating margin is 9.1% (peer median 12.2%).
Valuation It trades at 22.0× forward earnings against a peer median of 28.5× (9th cheapest of 20).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 3% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +8%, so the hurdle is -5 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 4.8 points above its cost of capital (6.6% WACC).
Credit BAE Systems has 6 bonds outstanding ($5.35B), rated A- by the agencies and trading like A+ at a weighted spread of 69 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 25 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £29.4B | £28.3B | £26.3B | £23.1B | £21.3B |
| Revenue growth | — | +8% | +14% | +9% | — |
| Gross profit | £2.67B | £7.48B | £6.89B | £6.33B | £5.91B |
| EBITDA | £3.84B | £3.77B | £3.46B | £3.02B | £2.81B |
| Net income | £2.11B | £2.06B | £1.96B | £1.86B | £1.59B |
| Free cash flow | £4.52B | £2.38B | £2.68B | £2.84B | £2.10B |
| Capital expenditure | £1.12B | £1.10B | £1.16B | £957M | £693M |
| Total debt | n/a | £9.05B | £10.3B | £6.53B | £6.86B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAE Systems BA..L | $72.6B | -4% | +7% | 9% | 22.0× | 2.8% |
| Lockheed Martin LMT | $131B | +12% | +8% | 12% | 17.6× | -6.9% |
| RTX RTX | $256B | +8% | +12% | 11% | 24.4× | 8.4% |
| General Dynamics GD | $95.7B | +3% | +10% | 10% | 19.4× | -2.5% |
| Leonardo LDO.MI | $31.0B | -4% | +10% | 7% | 20.2× | 14.3% |
| Rheinmetall RHM.DE | $42.5B | -29% | -2% | 18% | 22.0× | 6.5% |
| Thales HO.PA | $51.1B | -1% | +7% | 11% | 20.6× | -2.8% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | BA..L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +0.5% | +4.0% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -4.2% | -1.5% | 9th lowest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -21.8% | -21.0% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +7.2% | +12.0% | 5th lowest of 20 |
| Operating margin | 9.1% | 12.2% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 22.0× | 28.5× | 9th cheapest of 20 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 2.8% | 10.1% | 5th least demanding of 18 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +8.0% | +9.4% | 9th lowest of 18 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -5.2 pp | +3.3 pp | 6th least demanding of 18 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +4.8 pp | +9.3 pp | 7th lowest of 20 |
| EV / EBITDA | 15.3× | 19.4× | 7th cheapest of 19 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.2× | 1.2× | 10th most indebted of 20 |
| Bond spread | 69 bp | 76 bp | 5th tightest of 14 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAE Systems BA..L | United Kingdom | $72.6B | -4% | +7% | 9% | 22.0× | 2.8% | +8.0% |
| Northrop Grumman NOC | United States | $74.6B | -4% | +7% | 11% | 17.8× | 0.2% | +2.7% |
| TransDigm TDG | United States | $66.2B | -1% | +17% | 47% | 25.5× | 9.7% | +11.6% |
| Howmet Aerospace HWM | United States | $81.8B | -24% | +22% | 28% | 32.6× | 24.1% | +9.4% |
| General Dynamics GD | United States | $95.7B | +3% | +10% | 10% | 19.4× | -2.5% | +6.7% |
| Thales HO.PA | France | $51.1B | -1% | +7% | 11% | 20.6× | -2.8% | +7.6% |
| Honeywell Aerospace HONA | United States | $48.5B | n/a | n/a | 20% | 18.8× | n/a | n/a |
| L3Harris LHX | United States | $48.4B | -13% | +7% | 12% | 20.1× | 7.0% | +3.7% |
| Rheinmetall RHM.DE | Germany | $42.5B | -29% | -2% | 18% | 22.0× | 6.5% | +12.9% |
| Lockheed Martin LMT | United States | $131B | +12% | +8% | 12% | 17.6× | -6.9% | +2.8% |
| HEICO HEI | United States | $39.2B | +14% | +21% | 24% | 47.8× | 24.5% | +20.2% |
| Boeing BA | United States | $137B | -27% | +18% | 0% | 179,875.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Safran SAF.PA | France | $138B | +4% | +14% | 13% | 28.5× | 22.2% | +13.4% |
| Rolls-Royce RR..L | United Kingdom | $140B | +6% | +19% | 18% | 28.5× | 24.6% | +13.0% |
| Hindustan Aeronautics HAL.NS | India | $35.2B | +4% | +7% | 23% | 33.6× | 42.7% | +7.2% |
| Saab SAAB-B.ST | Sweden | $33.3B | +19% | +28% | 10% | 40.2× | 6.0% | +17.4% |
| Elbit Systems ESLT | United States | $32.0B | -13% | +12% | 9% | 46.5× | 10.1% | +11.5% |
| Kongsberg Gruppen KOG.OL | Norway | $31.8B | +13% | -28% | 17% | 46.3× | 21.7% | +4.3% |
| Rocket Lab RKLB | United States | $31.8B | -50% | +53% | -29% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Leonardo LDO.MI | Italy | $31.0B | -4% | +10% | 7% | 20.2× | 14.3% | +7.8% |
| Bharat Electronics BEL.NS | India | $30.6B | -10% | +20% | 26% | 41.5× | 38.2% | +14.3% |
BAE Systems has 6 bonds outstanding with $5.35B face value. The agencies rate it A-; its bonds trade like A+. Weighted yield 5.51%, a spread of 69 bp over government bonds.