How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.
The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Kratos (KTOS) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to KTOS for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Kratos' Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Kratos' main business drivers.
Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions was incorporated on Dec 19, 1994 and began operations in March 1995. The company offers high performance, jet powered, unmanned aerial target drone systems which are designed to replicate state of the art adversarial fighter aircraft, missiles and other threat. The company also specializes in space and satellite communications, cyber security/warfare, microwave electronics, missile defense, hypersonic systems, C5ISR, training and combat systems.
Its primary end customers are U.S. Government agencies, including the Department of Defense (DoD), intelligence agencies, and other national and homeland security related agencies.
The company currently operates in two reportable segments, namely the Kratos Government Solutions (KGS) and the Unmanned Systems (US).
The KGS segment is comprised of an aggregation of KGS operating segments, including our microwave electronic products, space and satellite communications, modular systems and defense and rocket support services operating segments. Net sales of this segment were $1.05 billion in 2025, representing 78.3% of the company’s total sales.
The US segment consists of unmanned aerial system and unmanned ground and seaborne system businesses. Net sales of this segment were $0.29 billion in 2025, representing 21.7% of the company’s total sales.
As of Dec. 28, 2025, Kratos’ total backlog was approximately $1.57 billion.
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio requires research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Kratos, ten years ago, you're likely feeling pretty good about your investment today.
According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in August 2016 would be worth $10,820.03, or a gain of 982.00%, as of August 12, 2026, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
In comparison, the S&P 500's gained 253.57% and the price of gold went up 211.89% over the same time frame.
Looking ahead, analysts are expecting more upside for KTOS.
Kratos is the primary unmanned aerial target drone system provider for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army and several allied defense agencies. The company is also expanding in hypersonics, rocket systems, propulsion and microwave electronics. Kratos' backlog increased to approximately $2.1 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2026. However, the company's shares have underperformed the industry in the past year. Moreover, labor shortage poses a threat to Kratos' growth prospects. The company is also affected by supply-chain disruptions, working capital requirements and foreign currency movements that could limit near-term margin and cash flow improvement.
Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 26.55%, and there have been 5 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2026 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (KTOS): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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