4/24/2025

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

brief opening remarks. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keyboard. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Dan Gitsavish, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin.

speaker
Dan Gitsavish
Vice President of Investor Relations / Host

Thank you, Ina. Good morning and welcome. Joining me this morning are Chris and Ken. Earlier today, we published our first quarter earnings release detailing our financial results and updated 2025 guidance. We also filed our 10-Q and provided a supplemental earnings presentation on our website. Today's discussion will include certain matters that constitute forward-looking statements. These statements involve risks, assumptions, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. For more information, please reference our earnings release and SEC filings. We will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures, which are reconciled to GAAP measures in the earnings release. With that, I'll turn it over to Chris.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Dan, and good morning, everyone. During our January call, I discussed how this administration is planning to drive transformative change like never before, and we are seeing it unfold daily. L3 Harris isn't only embracing these changes, we are helping shape the future and advocating for more commercial-like business practices within the DoD. Our trusted disruptor culture and mindset continues to deliver results. It enables us to stay agile and rapidly adapt to the changing environment, whether from the administration or allied partners or world events. The external environment remains dynamic, and since we live it every day, I thought I'd give you the latest update and how we assess its impact on L3Harris. We're pleased that President Trump signed a full year continuing resolution. Unlike a traditional CR, this bill allows for new program starts, greater budget flexibility, and affirms the budget in line with the expected 1% increase over 2024 levels. Congress is now focused on a reconciliation package, which could include over $150 billion in additional defense funding. We view the continued emphasis by key congressional leaders to bolster our national defense as a positive sign for us. There are many initiatives within the DOD and Congress focusing on existing program capabilities, cost and schedule performance, and investments in emerging technologies. To highlight a few, each service has been asked to reduce 8% of their budget to allow for reallocation of funding to administration priorities. we don't have any insight into these deliberations at this time. Secondly, as part of this process, the 74 MDAP, which is the Major Defense Acquisition Programs, are being evaluated to identify those that are either 15% over budget or 15% late to schedule. For the programs where we are prime, our performance is solid, and for those where we are a subcontractor, we are highly dependent on the prime's performance. The DOD issued their 17 priorities, which we are well aligned with. Our two most recent acquisitions are clearly in the sweet spot for capabilities needed for the future fight. And the classified interim national defense strategy was released, focusing on deterring China and defending the homeland. All these initiatives may be hard to follow from the outside, but clearly show a fresh look at aligning dollars to programs that are performing well, while reallocating budget to the administration's identified priorities. You saw that President Trump and Secretary Hegseth suggested that the upcoming 2026 presidential budget request could be as high as $1 trillion. This represents strong top line growth and highlights a sense of urgency and is another positive development. Over 130 executive orders have been issued in the first 100 days. and I wanted to highlight a few starting with Golden Dome. We're well positioned to support this initiative and ready to respond directly to customer requests and contribute to emerging industry teams given our world-class capabilities in missile warning, tracking, and discrimination. We've made substantial investments in new space factories in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Palm Bay, Florida. We're the only company to secure awards across all three tranches of the Space Force's tracking layer and are prepared to respond to the recently released RFP for the next tranche expected to be awarded later this year. Our Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor Satellite, known as HBTSS, launched in February 2024 and is the only proven on-orbit system capable of tracking the new marine hypersonic missiles. This is expected to be a core component of the Golden Dome architecture. If we were to get an award in the next few months, we could launch enough satellites into orbit while President Trump is still in office, thereby having complete coverage of the US. We broadly participate across offensive and defensive missile programs, providing propulsion and attitude control for all interceptors, both in production and development. This supports our long-term growth and underscores our leadership in this area. One of my favorite executive orders is entitled Restore Common Sense to Federal Procurement. This focuses on simplifying the acquisition process across the federal government. We've been the only major A&D company publicly advocating for reform and supportive of DOGE efforts. I continue to think significant change is in the best interest of the defense ecosystem and the long-term benefits will be significant for the country and our company. Those efforts in prioritizing budget for high priority capabilities, advancing innovation, promoting efficiency and acquisition, and implementing risk reduction policies all align with our strategy and keep us at the forefront of innovation and customer alignment. As the DoD considers procuring more through a commercial model, we are very comfortable with this approach with over 20 years of experience and about 20% of our products already being sold in this way. At its core, Our LHX Next initiative embodies DOJA's principles, tailored to accelerate internal transformation through greater speed efficiency and agility. Turning to international, we're seeing a significant increase in defense spending as our NATO allies modernize their technologies. We continue to see strong demand for our mission-critical solutions across key regions. So far, we've seen the need for the most advanced, battlefield-proven equipment, taking priority over politics, and we are staying closely connected with our customers through our NATO offices in countries including Poland, Germany, and the Netherlands, and the UK. As the global defense landscape shifts, we are exploring new models for collaboration, including partnerships with European domiciled companies. We secured a key international award just after the quarter closed with the Dutch Ministry of Defense, for network modernization and software-defined radios valued at over $1.1 billion. The Netherlands selected our radios for their battlefield based on our proven hardware and software, which deliver industry-leading resiliency, low probability detection, and intercept, while ensuring secure and interoperable communications with U.S. and allied forces. Looking ahead to 2026, we remain confident in achieving our financial framework $23 billion in revenue, low 16% margins, and $2.8 billion in free cash flow. With the priorities of the new administration, we're well positioned to continue to drive profitable growth while meeting our customers' evolving mission-critical needs and delivering on our commitments. For example, as a result of our ability to rapidly respond to customer requirements, early in the second quarter, we secured a classified award in our ISR business valued at over $350 million, along with a $200 million international award. And with that, I'll turn it over to Ken.

speaker
Ken Israel
Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Chris. Our focus on profitable growth is delivering results. We had a strong first quarter with performance reflecting continued momentum and improvement across our diverse portfolio of products and programs. While we're not without challenges, our ability to proactively manage the portfolio addressing headwinds in some areas while driving performance in others, continues to give us confidence in our approach and execution. This is also the first quarter we're reporting under our new non-GAAP EPS methodology. This change marks another step in our efforts to improve the quality of earnings and narrow the spread between GAAP and non-GAAP results, enhancing transparency and alignment with how we manage the business. Now let's talk about consolidated results for the quarter. Revenue was 5.1 billion and reflected flat organic growth as we operated through a dynamic external environment and were impacted by a short 12-week quarter. Segment operating margin was 15.6%, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year margin expansion. Non-GAAP EPS was $2.41, up 7% year-over-year. Free cash was an outflow of about 70 million as first quarter cash flows are typically the lowest of the year. This represents less than half the outflow we saw in Q1 24 and gives us confidence in our ability to deliver free cash of 2.4 to 2.5 billion dollars for the year. This quarter we returned nearly 800 million to shareholders with about 570 million in share repurchases. and $230 million in dividends, marking our 24th consecutive annual dividend increase. Returning excess cash to shareholders remains a top priority and we expect to repurchase more than $1 billion in shares this year, as previously updated. Additionally, taking advantage of favorable market conditions, we transferred $1.2 billion of pension obligations to an insurance provider without any cash contributions or book losses. reducing future risk and volatility. Turning to our segment's first quarter results. CS delivered revenue of $1.3 billion, up 4%, driven by continued strong international demand and quick-turn book-to-bill deliveries. Operating margin increased 150 bps to 25.5%, reflecting favorable high-margin international mix for resilient communications as well as LHX Next cost savings across the segment. IMS revenue was down, was $1.6 billion, down 2%, and operating margin was 12.8%, up 140 bps. Revenue declined due to lower aircraft missionization volume and the anticipated ramp down of an ISR mission operations program. Operating margin increased due to strong program performance, increased volume of higher margin airborne electro-optical sensors, and LHX Next cost savings. SAS revenue was $1.6 billion, down 6% organically, primarily due to lower volumes associated with program timing, and reduced F-35 volume as our TR3 mission computing hardware transitions from development to a more gradual production ramp. Operating margin was 10.9%, down 140 bits due to continuing challenges on some legacy fixed price development programs in space that are in later stages of completion. All of this partially offset by LHX next cost savings. AR delivered strong results with 9% organic growth. Growth was driven by improved production volume across key missile programs and new program ramps. Operating margin declined 110 bps to 12.1% due to lower net favorable EAC adjustments, partially offset by higher volume, and LHX Next-driven cost savings. Now, let me turn it back to Chris.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Thanks. Advancing strategic collaborations remains a cornerstone of our trusted disruptor strategy. Most recently, we announced a new partnership with Kuiper Government Solutions, Amazon's government-focused subsidiary. This effort combines our trusted tactical communication systems with their global low-Earth orbit satellite network to deliver resilient hybrid SATCOM solutions. This capability will offer high-speed, low-latency connectivity with out-of-the-box interoperability, providing greater flexibility and mission assurance across the military, public safety, and commercial domain. This collaboration formalizes our joint work and reflects our commitment to delivering secure, resilient communications in contested environments and creating partnerships with non-traditional participants. It's a differentiated solution that plays to our strengths and aligns with growing demand for hybrid, multilayered networks. This arrangement also expands the use of our subscription-based and commercial business model revenue. Another new partnership is with Shield AI on the groundbreaking demonstration of AI-enabled unmanned systems for electronic warfare operations. Leveraging our software-defined electromagnetic battle management ecosystem with Shield AI's hive mind autonomy, we're enhancing decision-making in complex battlefield environments. This collaboration will provide scalable multi-domain solutions for AI-enabled control of swarming systems for the U.S. and its allies. We are a minority shareholder in Shield AI. We're also making solid progress on our partnership with Palantir. Together, we're supporting the U.S. Army's Titan program, where we are leading the communications systems integration for Palantir. Further, we're integrating Palantir's Foundry software platform with our software-defined tactical radio networks. This collaboration is driving new insights and advancements, bringing artificial intelligence to the battlefield. By enhancing the data processing power of tactical networks, we're enabling faster, more effective mission execution for warfighters at the edge. Together, we're pursuing a new opportunity that emerged directly from this partnership to modernize and integrate AI and resilient C2 comms into a next-generation C5 ISR architecture for international customers. Partnerships like these and many others allow us to accelerate innovation and rapidly field advanced capabilities. By taking a more thoughtful and open systems approach, leveraging the strengths of our partnerships and existing capabilities and bandwidth, we're able to rapidly adapt, scale, and deliver differentiated solutions that meet evolving mission-critical needs. Back to you, Ken.

speaker
Ken Israel
Chief Financial Officer

First, a few comments on LHX Next and our portfolio, then I'll move into guidance updates. We remain focused on executing our LHX Next initiative and delivering $1.2 billion in gross run rate savings this year. We are nearing completion of the cost optimization phase of this initiative, including driving supply chain savings, process improvements, and facility consolidations. As a result, you may have noticed the reduction in corporate unallocated costs as LHX Next implementation costs ramped down. We will, of course, maintain our continuous improvement framework and drive for year-over-year cost savings. The next phase of LHX Next is centered on enterprise transformation, leveraging AI-enabled solutions, driving enterprise-wide digital transformation, and optimizing our supply chain to become leaner and more agile. We are developing our LHX operating system for all functions so that we have a common way of executing and managing our business. We continue to proactively reshape our business, and this quarter we further sharpened our national security focus portfolio by completing the divestiture of our commercial aviation solutions business, the last remaining commercial aerospace business in our portfolio. Additionally, we transitioned our Fusing and Ordnance Systems, or FOS, business from IMS to AR as part of our portfolio optimization efforts. We expect this shift to drive additional synergies as we align across common customers and leverage internal expertise for key rocket motor content. Turning to guidance updates for 2025. As Chris noted, there are several moving parts in the current environment. But the key takeaway is that we see as much, if not more, opportunity than risk ahead. That said, our updated guidance reflects a balanced and disciplined approach. It incorporates our solid Q1 performance while taking a risk-aware posture as we await greater clarity on several fronts. Specifically, we are monitoring the FY26 defense budget details around the implementation of the Golden Dome Executive Order and other recent directives, and further clarity around the budget tied to the 17 priority areas outlined by the DoD. Until we have greater visibility, we believe this is the most prudent path forward and expect to provide further updates on the Q2 call. With that, we now expect revenue of 21.4 to 21.7 billion, representing organic growth of 4% at the midpoint and reflecting a slight increase relative to growth implied by prior guidance. This update reflects the elimination of about $525 million of revenue related to the CAS divestiture. We are maintaining our segment operating margin guidance of mid to high 15% despite the elimination of higher margin CAS revenue supported by continued LHX Next cost savings and confidence in strong program execution. Non-GAAP EPS is expected to be $10.30 to $10.50. At the midpoint, this includes a $0.55 reduction related to CAS and a $0.25 increase from improved operational performance and capital deployment actions, including the pension buyout. Despite the elimination of three quarters of CAS revenue, we are reaffirming our free cash flow guidance of $2.4 to $2.5 billion, driven by growth, higher profitability, and disciplined working capital management. At the segment level, we are reaffirming our communication systems revenue outlook of $5.6 to $5.7 billion, with an increase in profitability to 25% from high 24%. IMS revenue guidance is now approximately $6.3 billion, reflecting a $525 million impact from the CAS divestiture and $300 million from the FAS business transfer to AR, about an $800 million reduction from midpoint of prior guidance. Operating margin is now expected in the mid, in the high 11% range, down from low 12%. due to the divestiture with plans to offset dilution over time through improved program performance and LHX Next savings. We are maintaining our guidance for space and airborne systems with revenue expected in the range of $6.9 to $7.1 billion, reflecting government fiscal year 2025 budget constraints in the space sector that we expect to abate by 2026. Operating margin is expected to remain in the low 12% range. Aerojet Rocketdyne revenue guidance is now approximately $2.8 billion, reflecting the addition of FOSS and continued strong growth in missile solutions. We continue to expect margins in the mid 12% range. Although we are closely monitoring the changing trade landscape and have put various mitigation strategies in place, We do not anticipate tariffs to have a meaningful impact on our financial results. We're actively managing any impact within our current guidance assumptions. Most importantly, we are ensuring timely access to international components to mitigate potential disruptions, though these risks are limited. We remain confident in our ability to navigate this dynamic environment while maintaining our focus on execution. With that, I'll turn it back to Chris.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Okay, before we open it up to questions, I want to briefly summarize our value proposition and how we're differentiating ourselves in the industry. With strong support from the new administration for defense and the potential for a $1 trillion budget in 2026, the backdrop is favorable. We're driving relentlessly for profitable growth and are committed to our 2026 financial framework, which we continue to gain confidence in. From a top-line perspective, the new opportunities we have won in Q2, as mentioned previously, will contribute to our ability to get there. We have grown our top line organically in each quarter since Q3 of 2022, and except for this 12-week quarter, this will continue for the rest of 2025. Turning to profitability, we effectively manage risk and performance across a diverse portfolio of products and programs, increasing margins even in the face of occasional programmatic challenges. Our LHX Next transformation is unique and driving our success. We've now expanded margins year over year for six consecutive quarters, and we're delivering double-digit free cash flow growth since 2023. With deleveraging largely behind us and share repurchases accelerating, we see a clear path to mid-double-digit growth in free cash flow per share. And last quarter, we increased our dividend for the 24th consecutive year. With that, Ina, let's open the line for questions.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question-and-answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. And should you wish to cancel the request, please press star followed by the 2. I would like to advise everyone to have a limit of one question. And if anyone have an additional question, you can put yourself back in the queue by pressing star 1. If you're using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. Your first question comes in the line of Seth Safeman from DB Morgan. Please go ahead.

speaker
Seth Safeman
Analyst, DB Morgan

Thanks very much. And good morning, everyone. Chris, I wanted to drill in a little bit on something you said a little bit earlier when you talked about international sales and particularly in Europe. I think there's some concern over there given the state of relations between the U.S. and some of the European allies and a sense that in the comms business and radios in particular, there are some suppliers in Europe. And so it sounds like you still have a fair amount of confidence in LHX's prospects there. And so I wonder if you could talk a little bit about that. What sort of gives you that confidence going forward?

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, Seth, great question. And I expect that there would be some concern. The confidence we're having is the orders that we've been able to book and the discussions we're having with our customers. You know, I mentioned the Netherlands, $1.1 billion opportunity here in April that we booked, Poland, Germany, and there's other Eastern European countries we can't disclose. At the end of the day, it comes down to the crypto, the interoperability, and the modernization programs that these countries have undertaken. They need new technology. There tend to be seven- to ten-year programs. And given the sense of urgency and the threats in the area, I believe they don't really have the time to go back and start over. So, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, there's a lot going on in politics, but at the end of the day, you want the best technology available, and it's proven over and over that our tactical networks, our software-defined radios are superior, and that's why they're being procured.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of . From back of America, please go ahead.

speaker
Analyst (Back of America)
Independent Analyst

Yeah, hey, good morning, Chris and Ken. Yeah, could you speak a little bit more about Golden Dome? You mentioned that you're making some investment there already. Is that in anticipation of an award? Have you already gotten an award? I mean, how are you thinking about that? And then I have a follow up, if I may.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, yeah. No, on Golden Dome, we've been seeing A lot of growth in our satellite business. We use that as an example of our trusted disruptor strategy going back several years. So when you look at the whole portfolio of satellites that we're manufacturing, we needed to develop these factories given the quantity that we have in backlog and those that we anticipate in the future. So no Golden Dome awards have been made. You know, TR – yeah, T3 – uh tranche three for space force the rfp came out that will be part of the architecture but uh it's still still early in the process um i did mention you know hbtss and if you look at that executive order you know it has about eight different uh focal points the only one in there that says accelerate the deployment of hbtss layer uh is critical because we have the only proven satellite in orbit that works. So that is an acceleration. That's why I said, if we can get an order here quickly, we can have the U.S. covered while the president is still in office. Every other part of that executive order uses the phrase develop. So, you know, we feel really good about the HBTSS. And I believe this administration is putting money where contractors are performing, and we're hopeful that we can move quickly, get this under contract, and start launching these capabilities. But the other part of it is with the Aerojet acquisition, there's a huge part with Solid Rocket Motors and the different interceptors. Ken, do you want to take that?

speaker
Ken Israel
Chief Financial Officer

Sure. Yeah. And just high level, Ron, to the investment part of your question, I would say You know the Golden Dome opportunity aligns very well to investments that we have been making in particular in the area of missile warning, missile tracking, and that's both in our Fort Wayne operation as well as here in Palm Bay, FL. So you know we we just believe that you know smart investments and you know our alignment to the needs of the customer are. you know, being revealed in terms of the focus on Golden Dome. To Chris's point on, you know, solid rocket motors, I think Aerojet is extremely well positioned, not just from a propulsion perspective, but we're on, you know, just about every interceptor program to include technologies around divert and attitude control and how you precisely get an interceptor where it needs to be. So we're looking at a focus on advancing uh, our, uh, capabilities and our production and development, uh, on both production and, and, and developing, um, interceptor opportunities like next gen interceptor glide phase interceptor. And, uh, also, you know, we do have a business that does, uh, targets for the missile defense agency. And we think that'll be an important part of golden dome being able to test the new system and capabilities. So we're looking at, uh, opportunities to work with the Missile Defense Agency to try to accelerate that as an enabler for the system as well. So we're excited, and I think we're very well positioned.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Doug Harned from Bernstein. Please go ahead.

speaker
Doug Harned
Analyst, Bernstein

Good morning. Thank you. You know, on SAS, you've had a lot of success winning SDA contracts, and those are easy for us to see. But when you look at the challenges that, you know, you've got and that you recognized this quarter with respect to classified programs, can you help us understand sort of the scale of, you know, the split here between classified and other? I know it's hard, but to give us a sense of where the challenge programs are headed, you know, are we going to see these, the negative impacts, I guess, on margins see that dissipate as we head into 26 and 27.

speaker
Ken Israel
Chief Financial Officer

Sure, Doug, I could take that question. I would say that, you know, maybe addressing the last part of the question first on the challenges, you know, we're certainly managing the challenges on these programs. You know, we've seen it in, you know, kind of tens of millions of dollars of uh, negative adjustments across a couple of programs. And as we've said, those programs are nearing completion. So we do expect that these challenges, uh, while not necessarily, uh, behind us are, you know, in a bread basket and, um, you know, should be, uh, you know, behind us in, in 25 or early 26. Um, importantly, These are important programs for our country and the warfighter, and we see it as a strong growth area in the future, and we expect as we've got the technological challenges behind us, it'll be a solid growth area for us with good profitability as we move forward. And then on the SDA business, you know, that is, I would say, you know, it's been a great business model for us. You may remember that we moved from, you know, call it a highly capable weather sensing system to a capable missile warning, missile tracking system through advancements in the sensor, as well as algorithms and ground processing. We were able to, you know, get a position on prime in that, dealt with some challenges on that back in 22 and 23. And as we've won successive awards from tranche zero to tranche one to tranche two, We've been able to drive down costs, give the customer confidence, and at the same time, increase our profitability tranche by tranche. So we're really pleased with the investments we've been making in the space business. It's not without its challenges. We do hard stuff. You know, I'll be clear on that. But it is important work for our country and for the warfighter. We're proud of the work we do. We're proud of the challenges we take on. And I think we've got a solid path to managing through it while meeting the guidance that we've put out for you.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

And I'll just chime in there, Doug, that we call these legacy programs because they're several years old and in some cases predate the merger, which is why I've been pretty outspoken about the fixed price development programs, which these are and how they can come back. and have challenges as you're developing and doing hard stuff, as Ken said. I do want to emphasize this does pave the way for future work. None of those programs have been bid. We don't have fixed priced options. So we will know the actual cost. We'll know the technological specs. And as additional work comes forward for similar or identical constellations or satellites, I'm highly confident we will win and we will make money on those.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Sheila Collier-Glue from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

speaker
Sheila Collier-Glue
Analyst, Jefferies

Good morning, Chris and Ken. Maybe just to stick to SAS, can we talk about the airborne side of the business? What do you see as prospects there? Seems like F-35 is only a near-term headwind. There's a turning point there and maybe new pursuits if you're on F-47. And how do you see LHX playing in that market going forward?

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, good morning, Sheila. Yeah, the airborne market is solid, and in these cases, you know, we are subs to the primes or the OEMs. You're right on F-35. 2025 is the low point for revenue as the TR-3 development comes down and the TR-3 production increases. So we'll see growth for our F-35 portfolio in 2026, and that involves all all aspects from core processors to weapon release and some of the other capabilities that we have on that plane. I was thinking, I'm not sure there's an airplane out there that L-3 Harris doesn't have some content on. So, you know, we have some great capabilities, even things like the T-7 and other new development programs were positioned well and we can support whatever is needed for next-gen aircraft and future planes. So feel good about the portfolio, feel great about the capabilities, and this will be a growth area for us in years ahead.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Matt Egers from Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.

speaker
Matt Egers
Analyst, Wells Fargo

Hey, thanks very much. Good morning. I wanted to ask, Ken, I guess, you know, now that you've been in the Rocketdyne be here for a couple months. Just curious, your initial impressions and kind of thoughts on any opportunities for that business area going forward.

speaker
Ken Israel
Chief Financial Officer

Sure. Thanks, Matt. Appreciate the question. Yeah, look, my initial impressions are it's a great business. It's a fantastic team. And we're very well positioned as we look forward to address, you know, the critical needs of our country and our warfighter from a tactical and large solid rocket motor perspective. You know, we're very focused on capacity expansion, in particular in the missiles solutions business. And I think you're seeing that start to reveal itself in terms of 9% revenue growth at Aerojet and, you know, solid double digit growth in the missiles business in particular. And again, that's both, you know, climbing the ramp on the tactical side, as well as starting to see some new programs kick in in terms of primarily large solid rocket motors. As I mentioned in response to an earlier question, we're excited about the opportunities at Golden Dome, at Aerojet, again, acceleration of interceptor, both production and development programs, as well as targets for Missile Defense Agency. And then we're certainly focused on the space propulsion side of the business as well, you know, protecting NASA SLS Artemis and our RS-25 engine there. We believe that particular program aligns very well with national security purposes in returning to the moon and making sure that we don't cede the moon to one of our country's adversaries. And then we're also focused on accelerating and driving production efficiencies on the RL-10, largely in support of ULA, which we believe is the world's most capable second stage engine. We've made some changes there, driving additive manufacturing, which should enable us to see some efficiencies and acceleration as we move forward. So great business, great team. I'm really excited to be leading it and I've been spending fair amount of time in some of the Aerojet facilities, Camden, Arkansas, West Palm, Canoga Park, California. And as I've been engaging with the team, it's just, it's fantastic. And, you know, we're really very well positioned.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, and in my discussions with the customers, they're very pleased that L3 Harris made this acquisition. And more importantly, they're impressed with the turnaround. So, I believe we're absolutely in the right market at the right time, and the future is quite bright.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Noah Popenak from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

speaker
Noah Popenak
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Hey, good morning, everyone.

speaker
Ken Israel
Chief Financial Officer

Hey, Noah.

speaker
Noah Popenak
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Just a few questions on the outlook, a few of the outlook items. Given the divestiture coming out, Reiterating the 23 billion for 2026, I think would require closer to 7% organic growth in 26 versus the four this year and the four in the CAGR you've talked about. Can you maybe just talk about, you know, I know you've described an opportunity rich environment here, but how much risk is there to, you know, just getting things on contract quickly enough to achieve that? And then for 25, can the... The pension income and interest expense change, I think, look like about 20 cents. And you called the 25 cents operational. I'm just wondering how much you're ahead of plan operationally versus that being below the line.

speaker
Ken Israel
Chief Financial Officer

Sure. Let me address the first question, and then I can get to the second part there. So, look, in terms of the growth drivers, the 2026, You know, Chris mentioned in his prepared remarks that we are building confidence to the 26 framework and the $23 billion in sales. And there's a number of moving parts, and let me just kind of walk through them. First of all, Chris mentioned a classified award that we booked early in the second quarter at IMS. And we see that contributing to revenues in 25 and into 26. There is also an IMS international booking that Chris mentioned, and we see that contributing in 26. We believe that space will return to growth. As we mentioned, there's some budgetary challenges in government fiscal year 25, but we know that there's a focus on that, and we see more budget in FY government's fiscal year 26 on space. whether that's SDA T3 potentially accelerating into the fourth quarter of 25 as an award, as well as the potential for upside on Golden Dome opportunities. And then Aerojet Rocketdyne will continue to contribute growth in terms of missiles capacity, again, both at the tactical missile level as we climb the ramp, as well as some of the development wins that we've seen in the interceptors and large solid rocket motors. That's across a number of interceptor programs, a classified program, Sentinel, and others. And then, as Chris mentioned, the F-35 headwind that we see in 2025 will abate. So we are, you know, we are building confidence. We understand it's a 7% growth rate into 26, but we feel like we've got a really solid path to get there. and feel better about that today than we did one quarter ago. In terms of the second question, you know, we look at our performance in Q1. We think it was solid performance. I'm not going to parse out, you know, five cents here or there at the EPS level, but we think the operations certainly contributed. There clearly is some benefit of interest in capital deployment actions, whether it's pension or as we've updated, you know, we think share count with the repurchase that we've done in the first quarter will be somewhere between 188 to 189 million shares versus previous 190. So we're feeling good about what we're doing to drive upside to EPS, whether that's performance of the segment line, Or capital deployment actions and. You know, we just will continue to crank through that and try to drive upside at the segments through the remaining three quarters of the year.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

And now we haven't really seen an abnormal slowdown in getting orders. I think it's just the usual change of administration. Nothing, nothing beyond that. I think just about everybody's book to bills were were below one. we kind of manage it and look at it at a LTM basis. So we're at 114 on a book to bill, which gives me confidence in the growth. And again, we have this 12-week quarter, and I think we booked almost a billion dollars of orders in the first week of Q2. So there's growth in cyber, which is all classified, great opportunities in the Mideast. And these partnerships and focus on AI, I think, are going to be able to contribute more in 26 than maybe people appreciate. So thanks for the question.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Robert Stellard from Vertical Research Partners. Please go ahead.

speaker
Robert Stellard
Analyst, Vertical Research Partners

Thanks so much. Good morning. Good morning. Chris, just wanted to follow up on Sheila's question from earlier on. with regard to the F-35. Lockheed Martin said a couple of days ago that they're looking to substantially enhance the capability on the aircraft. I don't remember exactly what Jim Taklett said, but I was wondering if there were any opportunities there for L-3 Harris to be involved with this process.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I would think so. You know, we are leading the hardware piece of TR-3, and I think a lot of those TR-3 capabilities, when they're combat-ready and operational, will give significantly improved capabilities for that aircraft. So I think we're well positioned. I think, in fact, we're in the midst of doing a lot of that work now. You know, we never really talked about the retrofit market. So to the extent there's continued upgrades in the core processor or the digital cockpit or the memory system, We always talk about the current deliveries, but there's also a retrofit perspective. So I think we're well positioned. I think we're one of the few that have the capabilities they need. So we'll work closely with Lockheed and see how we can help and support them.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Miles Fulton from Wolf Research. Please go ahead.

speaker
Miles Fulton
Analyst, Wolf Research

Thanks so much. Chris, I was wondering, some defense executives have had meetings with the president and sort of made direct appeals as it relates to their solutions. I'm curious to the extent that you've been able to do that. And then maybe more from a budget outlook perspective, what is the timeline you're currently thinking about in terms of gaining visibility into the fiscal 26 budget, the Golden Dome, and the 17 priority areas? Do you see that as being sort of a May-June or later than that? Thanks.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, thanks, Miles. I'll take the second one first. Yeah, we're actually expecting the 2026 PBR in the month of May. I think it's going to be referred to as a skinny PBR with the dollars allocated more at the mission level than at the program specific level, a little different than in the past. And I think a lot of those are going to probably be aligned. you know, with those priorities, whether it's homeland missile defense, munitions, autonomy, counter UAS. And then at that level, yeah, we're working hard to make sure that our programs are supported and the dollars will be allocated to them. So it's a little different process, but we'll have that number. Everyone will have it, I think, within the next couple weeks is what I've been told. And relative to customers, I can assure you I spend a lot of time Uh, in DC, or wherever I need to go to meet with the right people and. Not only myself, but the segment president, so I. I feel we have access pretty much to anyone we need and want access to and. I think our message is clear and concise and it's unique and people appreciate the capabilities and the speed in which we're willing to. To do the work, so feel real good on that front.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Jason Gursky from Citigroup. Please go ahead.

speaker
Jason Gursky
Analyst, Citigroup

Hey, Chris, you've been pretty forward leaning on procurement reform and the need for it and have even given some prescriptions to the building. I'm just kind of curious to get a few thoughts, a few more thoughts from you. These efforts obviously are geared towards speeding things up and saving money. And I'm kind of curious on the saving money part, whether this is to put downward pressure on spending overall or if it's to increase the purchasing power of DOD so they're going to get more for the money that they're spending. I would love to get your thoughts on what the intent here is. And then maybe just talk a little bit about what you think would be some low-hanging fruit, some easy wins for them to go get. And then lastly, what do you think the overall impact of an exercise, kind of like a rewrite of FAR, is going to have on the industrial base? Is this going to favor one type of company versus another, one type of technology versus another? Just kind of your overall thoughts on the longer-term implications of for the industrial base as we go into what looks like is going to be maybe a full rewrite of FAR. Thanks.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Jason. No, I'm passionate about trying to drive reform, and there's a lot of initiatives out there driven by, you know, the warfighter members of Congress, and I just want to make sure that the defense industrial base, you know, has the seats at the table because we do have a perspective. So, you know, speed and agility saves money, and the quicker we can make these acquisition decisions and the sooner anyone can get under contract, the better off we are as a country because we can get those capabilities to the warfighter. So by saving money not only in reducing the time to get an acquisition but allowing companies to have multi-year contracts commercial terms, we have so many competitive bids, you know, let's put out the RFP, let's get the proposals and let's make a decision and go quick. And the goal would ultimately be to get more purchasing power. I mean, the defense industrial base, in my opinion, has pretty much absorbed all the inflation and the impacts of COVID given all of our hundreds of billions of dollars of backlog that we have not been able until recently you know, to flow those costs through. So the quantities that our customer is getting are less than they probably want. So this will be a way maybe to increase back the quantity. You know, I did write a letter, you know, reforming FAR, getting rid of the cost accounting standards. I think it's odd that, you know, we need three sets of books, a gap set, a tax book, tax sets, and cost accounting. drives an incredible amount of inefficiency, audits out the wazoo, disclosure statements, makes it hard to run the business and do what you would think would be a logical thing. Relocating businesses, consolidations, all that take on a life of their own. The truth in negotiation, you know, to have those requirements for every contract over $2 million, you know, is pretty much darn near everything they buy. If we want to keep Tina, which I'm in favor of, you know, we ought to raise that to half a billion or a billion dollars. And then it just comes down to commerciality. And like I said, if we can get more DOD commercial-like practices, business practices, I think that's great. I think it's going to favor the companies that can adjust and go quickly and adopt to new change. I think our culture, mainly as a result of what we've done with LHX Next, I think our employees are used to change on a daily or weekly basis. So I think we can adapt rather quickly. There'll be IT costs and systems costs and all that kind of stuff, but hard to imagine there's anything negative coming out of this type of reform. And even Secretary Hegseth put out some guidance on buying software. So the future of software, resilience, communications, changing the way they buy these types of services whether it's subscription, commercial, or otherwise, I think is a game changer for the industry and a game changer for L3Harris and can't wait to get to that point.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your next question comes from the line of Michael Cermoli from Tourist Security. Please go ahead.

speaker
Michael Cermoli
Analyst, Tourist Security

Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Ken, just going back to, I think, Noah's question on that bridge to 2026 growth, I think I heard some of the wins, which I think were international. International revenue looks to be up about 10% this quarter. Do you have any assumptions for sort of the international growth trajectory? Uh, for the remainder of this year into 26, and then just the other 1 is there, is there any more portfolio shaping that you think materializes between now and call it the end of the year or, you know, you think you're kind of set in the organization right now.

speaker
Ken Israel
Chief Financial Officer

Sure, from an international perspective, as I was answering Noah's question and talking about the particular drivers to 26. There was a particular international award at IMS within the ISR sector that I was referencing there. Your question on international, yes, it is growing faster than the overall business, and we expect that to continue. Much of that is within the communications segment a bit at IMS as well. And, you know, we've got that factored into the guide. And certainly, as I said, it is a part of how we're confident in getting to the 2026 numbers. So, you know, feel good about that. And, you know, again, overall, I think that the cards are laying down real nicely for us in terms of the benefit. It's not, you know, one or two things that are going to get us there. I think we got a solid path of, you know, five or six individual items that are all either booked and, you know, will be in Q2 backlog or, you know, we've got a solid path to get in there. So, again, we feel really good about that. International absolutely will contribute, but solid domestic growth as well. And we see that enabling us to get to that 7% growth for 26. Was there a second part of the question, Michael?

speaker
Michael Cermoli
Analyst, Tourist Security

Asking about portfolio shaping, whether there's any more, anything left to be done. Yeah, thank you.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, I'll just take that one. Yeah, we're always looking at refining the portfolio. And I would say nothing significant. You know, we're not, Obviously, trying to be the largest company, we're trying to be the most valuable. And there is a benefit of focusing on those core competencies that you're good at, whether it's ISR, space, resilient comms, weapons, and munitions. We still have a lot of small one-off entities that, in all honesty, don't really move the needle. And we get calls on a regular basis. So we can get a good price. Maybe we do a little more pruning. But, you know, there's a lot of concern on the growth of 26, but it comes down to the portfolio. And if you look at our portfolio, I mean, I couldn't be happier with what we have. And in just the five years or so since the merger, you know, we did divest and have divested over $3 billion of revenue, and we've acquired $3 billion of revenue. And if you look at these priorities, whether it's nuclear modernization, defense, munitions, you look at these MDAP programs, And our performance, you know, probably not having a huge platform is not a bad place to be at this particular point. So I think it's all about the portfolio. We've got the portfolio aligned with this current administration's priorities. We can go fast. Our products aren't that expensive, which is why they're appealing internationally. And this partnership strategy is making a difference. I gave a couple highlights. whether it's Kuiper, Palantir, Shield AI. We have a couple others in work. We are the go-to people that are willing to work with anyone as a prime, as a sub, as a merchant supplier, and that's going to fuel the growth for the future.

speaker
Dan Gitsavish
Vice President of Investor Relations / Host

All right, Ina, let's take the last question.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. And your last question comes from the line of Peter Arman from Beard. Please go ahead.

speaker
Peter Arman
Analyst, Beard

Hey, thanks. Good morning, Chris, Ken, Dan. Hey, Chris, you mentioned SDA programs in your opening remarks. I was wondering if you could just give us an update on how, you know, the contracts are performing there. I know there were some leadership reviews going on, and it doesn't seem like it's resulted in any delays in the programs. But just in the context of Golden Dome, are there going to be overlaps or just how you're thinking about, you know, that overall effort here with your satellites? Thanks.

speaker
Chris Kubasik
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, thanks, Peter. Yeah, Tronch Zero is in orbit, performing well. One and two are moving along. Ken and I actually had a couple hour reviews earlier this week to go through these. It is going to be part of the Golden Dome architecture as we understand it. They put out the RFP. This was going to be a 2026 award. They're now looking at accelerating it into 2025. You know, so I think we're well positioned. We're making money. We're delivering on time, and these are pretty reasonably priced in the big scheme of things. So we're excited about it. And, you know, all these constellations we keep talking about, you know, tend to have three-, five-, six-year lives. So once you get them up, whether it's, you know, 50, 100, or 200, there's going to be a recycle or replenishment as well. So I think we're real well positioned, and the future is bright, especially in missile tracking and warning. and with the hypersonic threats out there. So let me wrap it up here as we close today's call. I want to express my gratitude to our dedicated team of employees and leaders for their hard work and resilience. The progress we've made over the past couple of years is a direct result of their efforts, and I'm proud of what we've accomplished. Before signing off, I'd like to take a moment to remember Rob Spingarn, a longtime A&D research analyst and friend who recently passed away. Rob is a valued member of the investment community. And we always appreciated his insights and professionalism that he brought to every interaction. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this difficult time, and he'll be greatly missed. Thank you for joining us.

speaker
Ina
Conference Call Operator

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating, and we ask that you please disconnect your lines.

Disclaimer

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