Forty-five years ago this Sunday, the Apollo 11 lunar module landed on the moon with two of the most famous astronauts in US history. The mission was a success on two fronts: it achieved President John F. Kennedy's objective of putting a man on the moon, and it placed the US ahead of the Soviet Union in the space race.
Today NASA is no longer sending astronauts to the moon, instead focusing its efforts on deep space exploration. Earlier this month, the agency signed a $2.8 billion contract with Boeing (BA) for the development of the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS). The SLS, which will be most powerful rocket ever built, will transport cargo, including the Orion spacecraft, and crew to near-Earth asteroids and, eventually, Mars.
The upcoming anniversary of the moon landing inspired us to look for investment opportunities amongst space stocks. We began by creating a universe of space stocks, which we pulled from NASA's list of its top 100 contractors in 2013 as well as press releases announcing contracts awarded this year. Then we screened that group for stocks that are rallying above their 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day moving averages (SMA). This indicates that these stocks have strong upward momentum and may soon be taking off like a rocket.
Next, we took a look at past performance and screened for stocks that have outperformed over the last quarter, with at least a 10% return. While past performance isn't indicative of future success, a solid performance in the previous quarter combined with the current momentum may lead to another strong quarter.
1. Air Products & Chemicals Inc. ([[APD]], Kapitall snapshot): Provides atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, equipment, and services worldwide. Market cap at $27.55B, most recent closing price at $129.80.
The stock is rallying 0.86% above its 20-day SMA, 5.51% above its 50-day SMA, and 13.77% above its 200-day SMA.
Performance over the last quarter at 13.19%.
Air Products and Chemicals won a $10.5 million contract to provide liquid nitrogen and oxygen to NASA's research centers and space center in California, Ohio, and Alabama.
2. General Dynamics Corp. ([[GD]], Kapitall snapshot): Provides business aviation, combat vehicles, weapons systems and munitions, military and commercial shipbuilding, and communications and information technology products and services worldwide. Market cap at $40.22B, most recent closing price at $117.51.
The stock is rallying 0.53% above its 20-day SMA, 1.11% above its 50-day SMA, and 15.62% above its 200-day SMA.
Performance over the last quarter at 12.37%.
General Dynamics was NASA's fourth top contractor in 2013 and has received $13.11 billion dollars from the agency.
3. URS Corporation ([[URS]], Kapitall snapshot): Provides engineering, construction, and technical services to public agencies and private sector clients worldwide. Market cap at $4.04B, most recent closing price at $58.56.
The stock is rallying 20.34% above its 20-day SMA, 25.71% above its 50-day SMA, and 19.78% above its 200-day SMA.
Performance over the last quarter at 24.78%.
URS Corporation was NASA's seventeenth top contractor in 2013 and has received $3.16 billion dollars from the agency.
Disclosure: The author has no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
Business relationship disclosure: Kapitall is a team of analysts. This article was written by Mary-Lynn Cesar, one of our writers. We did not receive compensation for this article (other than from Seeking Alpha), and we have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
