Huntington Ingalls Industries, (HII) Stock Price & How to Invest

Huntington Ingalls Industries is the largest military shipbuilder in the United States. It designs, builds, and maintains the most complex naval vessels in the US fleet, including nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, amphibious assault ships, and surface combatants. The company operates two principal shipyards: Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia, which is the only US builder of nuclear aircraft carriers and one of two builders of nuclear submarines, and Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi, which builds amphibious and surface ships. A third segment, Mission Technologies, provides defense and federal technology services including unmanned systems, cyber, and intelligence support. HII makes money almost entirely from the US Navy and government through long-cycle contracts that span years or decades, giving it deep visibility into future revenue via a large backlog. Spun off from Northrop Grumman in 2011 and headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII occupies a near-monopoly position in critical naval shipbuilding.

HII depends almost entirely on the US government, so budget delays, continuing resolutions, or shifts in defense priorities directly affect it. Shipbuilding is enormously complex, and the company has faced cost overruns, schedule slips, and inflation in labor and materials that can pressure margins on fixed-price work. Skilled-labor shortages and supply chain constraints in the defense industrial base are persistent challenges. The business is capital intensive with long cash conversion cycles. Concentration in a few massive programs means problems on any one ship can be financially significant, and free cash flow has at times been volatile.

12 analysts publish price targets on HII, averaging $368.42 against a $292.42 price as of September 2026, or +26.0%. The published targets run from $304.00 to $439.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 6 buy, 6 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 2 raises and 5 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full HII forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Huntington Ingalls Industries,. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Irreplaceable shipyards. Newport News is the only US shipyard capable of building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and is one of just two that build nuclear submarines. The most optimistic published target, $439.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. HII depends almost entirely on the US government, so budget delays, continuing resolutions, or shifts in defense priorities directly affect it. The most pessimistic target, $304.00, is roughly what HII is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on HII, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

No. Huntington Ingalls Industries, (HII) has not split its stock in the last 10 years. That is a statement about the window we check rather than about the company’s entire history, so an older split is possible. It also matters less than it once did: fractional shares mean a high price per share no longer keeps smaller investors out, which removed most of the practical reason to split.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Huntington Ingalls Industries,'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$12 billion
• Operating margin: ~7%
• Net income (TTM): ~$550 million
• P/E (TTM): ~17x
• Backlog: ~$50 billion, multi-year visibility
• Dividend yield: ~2%
• Free cash flow: variable, sensitive to program timing

HII trades at a moderate valuation relative to broad defense peers, reflecting thinner shipbuilding margins, capital intensity, and a history of program cost pressure, balanced against an essentially irreplaceable strategic position and a large multi-year backlog. The market tends to value the durability and backlog visibility while discounting for execution and margin risk inherent in complex naval construction.

If you want HII exposure as part of a larger bundle rather than directly, these ETFs hold it meaningfully. Weights are approximate and refresh quarterly.

Other names that sit close to HII: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get HII exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it (ITA), which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so HII sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where HII fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) holds a near-monopoly on the most complex US Navy vessels, backed by a multi-year backlog measured in tens of billions. In a portfolio it behaves as a moderate-valuation, dividend-paying defense holding whose durability is offset by thin shipbuilding margins, capital intensity, government-budget dependence, and a history of program cost pressure.

Whether HII is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is HII a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the HII stock forecast.

For income investors, whether HII pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does HII pay a dividend? And to weigh HII against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: HII vs GD and HII vs LDOS.