AERG vs NOC vs LDOS Stock Comparison

Applied Energetics, Northrop Grumman and Leidos Holdings Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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LDOS Leidos Holdings, Inc.
$141.02 +14.6% 1M -25.1% 1Y
Market cap
$17.94B
P/E
13.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$17.63B
Div. yield
0.01%
Defense Industrials
4 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Northrop Grumman leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Northrop Grumman 8, Leidos Holdings 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAERGNOCLDOSLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $195.41M $79.44B $17.94B NOC
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -12.1x 17.6x 13.0x LDOS
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — 18.3x 11.1x LDOS
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months -82.5% +6.5% +3.4% NOC
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -5,128.4% 10.4% 7.8% NOC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 12.2% 13.9% LDOS
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 1.7x 2.3x NOC
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.02% 0.01% NOC
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -50.6% -3.8% -25.1% NOC
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -19.1%/yr +9.5%/yr +7.1%/yr NOC
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 72.1% 28.7% 35.6% NOC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 15/100 57/100 69/100 LDOS

Percentile Scorecard

AERGNOCLDOS

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisAERGNOCLDOS
Valuation 3 #97 of 100 75 #26 of 100 98 #3 of 100
Growth 2 #94 of 96 38 #60 of 96 58 #41 of 96
Profitability 5 #90 of 95 76 #24 of 95 84 #16 of 95
Financial Health 40 #63 of 105 38 #66 of 105 31 #73 of 105
Shareholder Returns 25 #49 of 65 59 #27 of 65 72 #19 of 65
Overall 15 57 69
  • AERG ranked among 107 companies in Aerospace and Defense
  • NOC ranked among 107 companies in Aerospace and Defense
  • LDOS ranked among 107 companies in Aerospace and Defense

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodAERGNOCLDOSSPY
1 month -5.6%+11.4%+14.6% +0.7%
3 months -32.0%+5.2%+25.4% +3.7%
6 months -37.0%-2.9%-5.5% +7.1%
Year to date -53.0%-1.3%-21.8% +12.8%
1 year -50.6%-3.8%-25.1% +11.9%
3 years -64.6%+20.0%+53.6% +85.2%
3 years, per year -29.3%+6.3%+15.4% +22.8%
5 years -65.3%+57.5%+41.0% +67.6%
5 years, per year -19.1%+9.5%+7.1% +10.9%
10 years —+146.3%+240.6% +262.0%
10 years, per year —+9.4%+13.0% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureAERGNOCLDOSSPY
Volatility, 1Y 72.1%28.7%35.6% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 73.2%28.6%37.1% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.08-0.010.26 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.70-0.13-0.70 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -84.1%-38.4%-50.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -56.4%-26.8%-29.3% -1.2%
52-week high $1.95$768.02$199.55 $779.14
52-week low $0.68$473.40$100.00 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleAERGNOCLDOS
P/E now vs peer median -12.1xmedian 26.9x 17.7xmedian 26.9x 12.9xmedian 26.9x
P/S now vs peer median 622.9xmedian 3.0x 1.8xmedian 3.0x 1.0xmedian 3.0x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median -12.4xmedian 15.0x 14.7xmedian 15.0x 9.9xmedian 15.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median -18.8xmedian 27.2x 20.9xmedian 27.2x 8.2xmedian 27.2x
P/B now vs peer median 89.5xmedian 2.5x 4.3xmedian 2.5x 3.3xmedian 2.5x
PEG now vs peer median 0.36median 0.93 17.36median 0.93 0.45median 0.93

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsAERGNOCLDOS
Revenue $313.97K $43.59B $17.63B
Gross profit $143.70K $8.73B $3.14B
Operating income -$16.17M $4.63B $2.03B
Net income -$16.07M $4.52B $1.40B
Free cash flow -$10.40M $3.83B $2.16B
R&D $2.09M – –
EPS (diluted) $-0.07 $31.74 $10.92
Cash & equivalents $1.19M $3.74B $748.00M
Total debt – $58.43B $21.66B
Shares (diluted) 229.90M 142.40M 126.00M
Enterprise value $182.39M $66.89B $14.65B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricAERGNOCLDOS
P/E -12.1x 17.7x 12.9x
P/FCF -18.8x 20.9x 8.2x
P/Operating cash flow -19.1x 15.2x 7.7x
P/S 622.9x 1.8x 1.0x
P/B 89.5x 4.3x 3.3x
P/Tangible book 89.5x 4.3x 4.0x
EV/EBITDA -12.4x 14.7x 9.9x
EV/EBIT -12.0x 19.6x 11.3x
EV/Revenue 619.2x 2.1x 1.3x
EV/FCF -18.7x 23.7x 10.6x
EV/Operating cash flow -19.0x 17.2x 10.0x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.36 17.36 0.45

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAERGNOCLDOS
Revenue growth (1Y) -82.5% 6.5% 3.4%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -47.4% 4.1% 5.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -83.3% 9.8% 4.8%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -54.8% 3.4% 14.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) -41.9% 6.8% -0.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -37.6% 6.4% 21.1%
Net income growth (1Y) -41.0% 12.5% -0.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -37.4% -1.1% 24.8%
EPS growth (1Y) -36.1% 13.3% 1.3%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -33.4% 1.0% 28.6%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -56.2% 53.2% 54.9%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -39.5% 12.5% 35.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -34.3% 108.8% 63.2%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -39.0% 22.3% 41.7%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAERGNOCLDOS
Gross margin 45.8% 20.0% 17.8%
EBITDA margin -4,975% 14.1% 13.2%
Operating margin -5,150% 10.6% 11.5%
Pretax margin -5,118% 12.0% 10.2%
Net margin -5,128% 10.4% 7.8%
FCF margin -3,312% 8.8% 12.3%
Operating cash flow margin -3,260% 12.1% 13.0%
Return on equity -440.1% 24.7% 26.8%
Return on assets -300.4% 8.8% 9.0%
Return on invested capital – 12.2% 13.9%
Return on capital employed -409.2% 12.2% 16.5%
Asset turnover 0.1x 0.8x 1.1x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 0.6x 1.2x 1.6x
Stock comp / revenue 1,759% 0.3% 0.6%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAERGNOCLDOS
Debt / assets – 27.5% 38.6%
Debt / equity – 0.8x 1.1x
Net debt / EBITDA – 1.7x 2.3x
Debt / FCF – 3.8x 2.8x
Liabilities / assets 46.3% 64.4% 65.9%
Equity / assets 53.7% 35.6% 34.1%
Interest coverage – 7.1x –
Current ratio 1.6x 1.2x 1.6x
Quick ratio 0.9x 1.0x 1.4x
Cash ratio 0.9x 0.3x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 0.32 3.11 3.21

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAERGNOCLDOS
Dividend yield – 1.7% 1.2%
Net buyback yield -5.6% 0.7% 3.7%
Shareholder yield -5.6% 2.4% 4.9%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 30.2% 15.5%
Payout ratio (FCF) – 35.6% 10.0%
Dividend growth (1Y) – 8.0% 3.3%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 7.4% 2.8%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusAERGNOCLDOS
Forward P/E – 18.3xFY2026 11.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year – $30.81FY2026 $12.75FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – +17.0%FY2026 +6.3%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after – +3.7% -9.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year – $42.95BFY2026 $17.52BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY – +2.4%FY2026 +2.0%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after – +3.7% +14.9%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAERGNOCLDOS
Held by institutions 0.0% 83.4% 79.3%
Institutions holding 1 1,810 774
Change in shares held, QoQ – +0.3% +4.1%
Institutions buying 0 840 380
Institutions selling 0 640 295
Buyers to sellers – 1.31 1.29

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

AERGNOCLDOS
AERG 1.00 -0.04 0.00
NOC -0.04 1.00 0.43
LDOS 0.00 0.43 1.00

Add a Peer

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, AERG, NOC and LDOS?

Northrop Grumman (NOC) is the largest by market capitalisation: Applied Energetics (AERG) $195.41M, Northrop Grumman (NOC) $79.44B, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) $17.94B.

Which stock is cheaper, AERG, NOC and LDOS?

Leidos Holdings (LDOS) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Applied Energetics (AERG) -12.1x, Northrop Grumman (NOC) 17.6x, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) 13.0x). On next year's consensus earnings, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) is cheapest (Northrop Grumman (NOC) 18.3x, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) 11.1x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Northrop Grumman (NOC) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Applied Energetics (AERG) -82.5%, Northrop Grumman (NOC) +6.5%, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) +3.4%.

Which company is more profitable?

Northrop Grumman (NOC) has the highest net margin (Applied Energetics (AERG) -5,128.4%, Northrop Grumman (NOC) 10.4%, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) 7.8%). On return on invested capital, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) leads (Northrop Grumman (NOC) 12.2%, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) 13.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Northrop Grumman (NOC) returned the most: Applied Energetics (AERG) -50.6%, Northrop Grumman (NOC) -3.8%, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) -25.1%. Over five years, Northrop Grumman (NOC) compounded fastest (Applied Energetics (AERG) -19.1%/yr, Northrop Grumman (NOC) +9.5%/yr, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) +7.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Northrop Grumman (NOC) has the highest dividend yield: Applied Energetics (AERG) 0.00%, Northrop Grumman (NOC) 0.02%, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) 0.01%. Applied Energetics (AERG) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Northrop Grumman (NOC) has been the steadiest (Applied Energetics (AERG) 72.1%, Northrop Grumman (NOC) 28.7%, Leidos Holdings (LDOS) 35.6%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, AERG, NOC and LDOS?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Northrop Grumman (NOC) leads on 8. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.