Textron has always been an intriguing beast to me.

After all, in 2006 the aerospace conglomerate acquired the comparatively small software outfit by which I was hired straight out of college, effectively taking us under its massive wings.

Consequently, thanks to an impending financial meltdown and Textron’s own overexposure to its struggling financial segment, I learned some fantastic lessons about keeping too much of our own company’s stock in my 401(k) plan during that time.

TXT data by YCharts

Luckily, my retirement accounts were still relatively young (read “small”), so the lesson couldn’t have come at a better time. 

The products
Still, that gave me plenty of excuses to dig into my new parent company’s operations, helping me learn of its incredible global reach thanks to its ownership of Cessna, Bell Helicopter, and unmanned aircraft specialist AAI. In addition, Textron builds golf carts through its E-Z-GO subsidiary, commercial lawn mowers through Jacobsen, and hand tools through Greenlee. What’s more, thanks to its ownership of Kautex, we can add to the list automotive parts like gas tanks, windshield washer systems, camshafts, and catalytic converters.

But what really caught my attention were some of Textron’s other military-centric products, including it’s armored security vehicles (known for their IED-deflecting “V” shaped hulls), RPG protection systems, a self-righting 47-foot rescue boat, and a giant, widely used hovercraft capable of carrying a 75-ton payload at speeds of over 40 knots — for all you non-seafolk, that’s a ridiculous amount of weight to push at 46 miles per hour!

We also can’t forget Textron’s “Lightweight Tactical Small Arms” tech, which promises to reduce the weight of traditional carbine rifles and ammo by 50%, thanks largely to the use of high-tech caseless ammunition. If that’s still not enough, you might take a peek at its Sensor Fuzed Weapon — a “smart” cluster bomb capable of selectively destroying dozens of targets via munitions which contain built-in logic to either self-destruct in the air or render themselves inert within minutes of hitting the ground if they don’t find a suitable target. The result? A clean battlefield with zero civilian casualties to date, and a few pretty amusing first-hand accounts of the weapon’s effectiveness. 

The numbers
To be fair, however, the best product portfolio in the world isn’t worth much if the company can’t turn a profit. Luckily for Textron shareholders, after struggling mightily through the end of 2010, the company has managed to post respectable profits in seven of its eight most recent quarters, with the sole outlier being its fourth quarter of 2011, during which the company metaphorically ripped off its bandages and took $0.55 per share in charges. Fortunately, the bulk of those charges were the result of mark-to-market adjustments related to the winding down of its troublesome finance segment.

Meanwhile, Bell Helicopter continues to fire on all cylinders as the company sold 24 of its H-1 helicopters …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance