Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII)

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII): America's Largest Military Shipbuilder

Shariah status: NON-COMPLIANT. HII is a pure-play U.S. defense contractor - the company builds aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and surface warships for the U.S. Navy. Because HII's core business is the manufacture of military assets, this stock falls fully outside Shariah-compliant screening criteria. There is no Shariah-compliant angle to explore here - this section is provided purely for general financial education.

Beyond that classification, HII is one of the most structurally unique businesses on the U.S. stock market: it is the ONLY company that builds aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy, and one of only TWO companies in the world that build nuclear submarines for the U.S. military (the other is General Dynamics Electric Boat). This is not a typical competitive advantage - it is a structural monopoly inside a monopsony market (a single buyer, the U.S. government).

Three Business Segments

• Newport News Shipbuilding (Virginia) - the sole builder of nuclear aircraft carriers (Ford-class and Nimitz-class), also co-builds Virginia-class attack submarines and delivers module sections for Columbia-class submarines. This segment has faced workforce shortages and construction delays.
• Ingalls Shipbuilding (Pascagoula, Mississippi) - builds Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and amphibious assault ships, and recently won a $283 million lead-yard design support contract for the new FF(X)/Constellation-class frigate program (April 2026).
• Mission Technologies - a smaller segment covering C5ISR, cyber security, and unmanned maritime systems. This segment is actually SHRINKING - Q2 2026 revenue fell to $760 million from $791 million a year earlier, driven by lower All-Domain Operations and Global Security volumes. This is a genuine weak spot in management's previously-pitched "diversification" story.

Leadership & Ownership

Chris Kastner has led HII as President and Chief Executive Officer since March 2022. The ownership structure is dominated by large institutions - roughly 93% of shares are held by institutions (Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street among the largest holders), while insider ownership (management and the board) sits around 4.3%.

Record Backlog

HII now holds a record backlog of $57.3 billion after winning $6.7 billion of new contract awards in Q2 2026 alone - including HII's share of a combined $76.6 billion U.S. Navy award for Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines (announced late July 2026, split with General Dynamics Electric Boat). A backlog this size provides years of revenue visibility - an advantage few other companies can claim.

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