CACI vs SAIC: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: SAIC is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. CACI and SAIC share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined CACI and SAIC exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

CACI International provides expertise and technology to US government and allied customers, concentrated in national security, defense, and intelligence. Its work spans signals and geospatial intelligence, electronic warfare, secure communications, software and systems engineering, cyber, and enterprise IT modernization, and roughly the large majority of revenue comes from federal agencies (Department of Defense and the intelligence community). The March 2026 completion of the ~$2.6 billion all-cash ARKA Group acquisition pushed CACI further into space-based sensing, geospatial intelligence, and agentic AI software, adding about 1,100 employees including a large specialized software-engineering base.

Full CACI guide

Science Applications International Corporation is a Reston, Virginia contractor that designs, integrates and runs technology systems for federal agencies. It calls itself a mission integrator, which in practice means systems engineering, mission IT, enterprise IT and professional services delivered under roughly 1,700 active contracts by about 23,000 employees. The business reports in two segments. Defense and Intelligence produced about $1.47 billion of revenue in the quarter ended May 1, 2026, serving the Department of War (the renamed Department of Defense) and the intelligence community. Civilian produced about $440 million, covering federal civilian agencies plus state and local customers in areas like travel, trade and public health. In fiscal 2026, about 52% of revenue came from the Department of War and about 46% from intelligence and other federal agencies, with 98% of the total tied to prime contracts or subcontracts for the U.S. government. This is the company that kept the SAIC name in the 2013 separation; the parent renamed itself Leidos.

Full SAIC guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• CACI drivers: Long backlog and recurring government demand; Shift toward higher-margin technology and software.
• SAIC drivers: Margin repair under new leadership; A shrinking share count doing heavy lifting.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: CACI derives the large majority of revenue from the US government, so budget delays, continuing resolutions, shutdowns, or shifts in defense and intelligence priorities can directly pressure growth. For SAIC, the central risk is stated in the guidance itself: management expects organic revenue to decline 2% to 4% in fiscal 2027, so the earnings growth on offer comes from margin and share count rather than demand.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick CACI if you believe its drivers more; SAIC if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the CACI and SAIC guides.

CACI. Trailing revenue was about $9.2 billion as of the March 2026 quarter, up from roughly $8.6 billion in fiscal 2025 (year ended June 2025), and management guided fiscal 2026 revenue toward $9.5 billion to $9.6 billion. As of early July 2026 the market capitalization was near $11 billion at a share price around $500, a trailing P/E near 25x and a forward P/E closer to 20x, reflecting a premium typical of scaled, backlog-rich defense-technology contractors.

SAIC. The multiple looks undemanding on earnings and less so on cash flow: an enterprise value near $7.7 billion against guided adjusted EBITDA of roughly $725 million works out around 10.6 times, which is a normal price for a stable federal services book and a full one for a business guiding revenue lower. The stock traded around $126 in late August 2026 inside a 52-week range of roughly $81 to $130, so most of the margin story has already been repriced. What the numbers do not settle is whether fiscal 2027 is the trough of a portfolio reset or the start of a slower drift, and backlog conversion over the next few quarters is the thing that answers it.

Headline figures (approximate, JULY 2026): CACI shows revenue (ttm) ~$9.2B, fy2026 revenue guidance ~$9.5B to $9.6B, net income (fy2025) ~$500M, market cap ~$11.1B; SAIC shows revenue (ttm) ~$7.29B, versus ~$7.26B in fiscal 2026 and ~$7.48B in fiscal 2025, adjusted ebitda ~$708M in fiscal 2026 (9.7% margin); fiscal 2027 guided to ~$720M to ~$730M (10.1% to 10.3%), diluted eps ~$8.89 trailing GAAP; ~$7.70 in fiscal 2026; fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS guided to ~$9.90 to ~$10.10, total backlog / book-to-bill ~$22.9B at May 1, 2026 (~$3.7B funded); Q1 book-to-bill ~1.1x, trailing twelve months ~1.0x.

CACI and SAIC are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined CACI and SAIC exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.