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French defense and technology group making military electronics, radars, avionics and cybersecurity/digital systems.
French defense and technology group making military electronics, radars, avionics and cybersecurity/digital systems.
Works mostly on multi-year government contracts, with revenue booked as equipment is delivered and followed by years of paid support and upgrades. The French state and Dassault Aviation are its two largest shareholders. The 2019 purchase of Gemalto added digital security and identity products, so it is no longer only a defence group.
In one line: France's defense-electronics peer to L3Harris..
Moat: narrow (regulatory licence, switching costs, IP / patents). Deep-rooted defense-ministry relationships and certified/classified systems that are hard for new entrants to replicate.
Headquarters: Paris, France · Employees: 84,958
Size Thales (HO.PA) is a France Industrials company (Aerospace & Defense) with a market value of $51.1B, the 18th largest of 206 France companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at €221.70 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 0.6%, against -4.5% for the median peer and -0.4% for the France market (cap-weighted) — 7th highest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 6.9% over the last twelve months (peer median +12.0%); the operating margin is 10.6% (peer median 10.8%).
Valuation It trades at 20.6× forward earnings against a peer median of 25.5× (8th 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 -10 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 14.7 points above its cost of capital (6.3% WACC).
Credit Thales has 7 bonds outstanding ($4.34B), rated A- by the agencies and trading like AA+ at a weighted spread of 53 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 9 Mar 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | €22.8B | €22.1B | €20.6B | €18.4B | €17.6B |
| Revenue growth | — | +8% | +12% | +5% | — |
| Gross profit | €6.13B | €5.85B | €5.37B | €4.77B | €4.46B |
| EBITDA | €3.51B | €3.31B | €2.97B | €2.70B | €2.50B |
| Net income | €1.50B | €1.67B | €1.04B | €1.02B | €1.12B |
| Free cash flow | €3.95B | €2.61B | €2.10B | €1.06B | €2.49B |
| Capital expenditure | €752M | €757M | €623M | €626M | €535M |
| Total debt | n/a | €6.13B | €7.82B | €8.43B | €5.47B |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thales HO.PA | $51.1B | -1% | +7% | 11% | 20.6× | -2.8% |
| Leonardo LDO.MI | $31.0B | -4% | +10% | 7% | 20.2× | 14.3% |
| L3Harris LHX | $48.4B | -13% | +7% | 12% | 20.1× | 7.0% |
| RTX RTX | $256B | +8% | +12% | 11% | 24.4× | 8.4% |
| BAE Systems BA..L | $72.6B | -4% | +7% | 9% | 22.0× | 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 | HO.PA | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +2.8% | +4.0% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -0.6% | -4.5% | 7th highest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -19.1% | -24.6% | 7th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +6.9% | +12.0% | 4th lowest of 20 |
| Operating margin | 10.6% | 10.8% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 20.6× | 25.5× | 8th cheapest of 20 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -2.8% | 7.0% | 2nd least demanding of 18 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +7.6% | +9.4% | 7th lowest of 18 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -10.4 pp | -1.3 pp | 3rd least demanding of 18 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +14.7 pp | +8.3 pp | 4th highest of 20 |
| EV / EBITDA | 13.1× | 19.0× | cheapest of 18 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.1× | 1.3× | 7th least indebted of 19 |
| Bond spread | 53 bp | 72 bp | 2nd tightest of 12 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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% |
| TransDigm TDG | United States | $66.2B | -1% | +17% | 47% | 25.5× | 9.7% | +11.6% |
| HEICO HEI | United States | $39.2B | +14% | +21% | 24% | 47.8× | 24.5% | +20.2% |
| BAE Systems BA..L | United Kingdom | $72.6B | -4% | +7% | 9% | 22.0× | 2.8% | +8.0% |
| Hindustan Aeronautics HAL.NS | India | $35.2B | +4% | +7% | 23% | 33.6× | 42.7% | +7.2% |
| Northrop Grumman NOC | United States | $74.6B | -4% | +7% | 11% | 17.8× | 0.2% | +2.7% |
| 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% |
| Howmet Aerospace HWM | United States | $81.8B | -24% | +22% | 28% | 32.6× | 24.1% | +9.4% |
| 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% |
| General Dynamics GD | United States | $95.7B | +3% | +10% | 10% | 19.4× | -2.5% | +6.7% |
| Dassault Aviation AM.PA | France | $26.0B | +6% | +33% | 9% | 19.6× | 5.2% | +6.2% |
| Axon Enterprise AXON | United States | $25.4B | -22% | +35% | 1% | 36.5× | n/a | n/a |
| Hanwha Aerospace 012450.KS | South Korea | $25.0B | -53% | +28% | 11% | 17.2× | -7.0% | +38.1% |
| Singapore Technologies Engineering S63.SI | Singapore | $22.6B | -13% | +11% | 9% | 27.3× | 5.3% | +11.5% |
Thales has 7 bonds outstanding with $4.34B face value. The agencies rate it A-; its bonds trade like AA+. Weighted yield 3.81%, a spread of 53 bp over government bonds.