Defence targets - Part II

I left out a few areas in my earlier post. (As before, entries marked with * are companies in which I own stock ).

• Defence/government IT service providers: the 2 most interesting players here are Mantech International (MANT) * and Anteon (ANT).
  
  Mantech falls into the category of when, not if buyouts. I bought into a pullback resulting from an earnings miss. I still rate it a buy.
  
  There are literally hundreds of smaller players, some of which are public. I will attempt a later post focused on this sector.
  
  
• Border patrol and related services: Borderless world ? Dream on! If anything, borders are getting more sophisticated everyday.
  
  Having the best possible experience in this field, Elbit Systems (ESLT), is a great target. This Israeli company handles all the borders at home, as well as borders like India/Pakistan. With that kind of experience, there is really no competition. I have been watching this company for a while, but haven't yet found a good entry point.
  

A company I mentioned in my earlier post was Acxiom (ACXM), which probably knows more about you and your routine than anyone else. IBM, just last week, announced that it is acquiring Las Vegas based Systems Research and Development Inc which similarly helps track / find relationships among people/activities. SRD was partly funded by In-Q-Tel, the CIA-backed VC.

Convera (CNVR), one of the firms that I mentioned in a very early post on search, is also an In-Q-Tel backed company in the classification/relationship discovery field. I own a few shares of Convera.

Insightful (IFUL) is another interesting player to watch in this field.