Resupply contracts for the International Space Station go to established players.

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army has contracted Alliant Techsystems to lead a supply team providing ammunition for the Afghan National Security Forces.

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force has contracted Alliant Techsystems to develop a Space Threat Assessment Testbed that simulates natural space environments.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency and Alliant Techsystems Inc. say they are planning the first full-scale test of the Orion crew capsule launch abort system.

Goldman shoots down Boeing.

Monday
Economic ISM Services (49.5)
Earnings Goldcorp (GG), Marvel (MVL), Tidewater (TDW), Airgas (ARG), Anadarko (APC), McKesson (MCK), Ternium (TX), Weight Watchers (WTW)

Tuesday
Economic NA
Earnings Barrick (ABX), Fannie (FNM), Molson (TAP), PG&E (PCG), Blue Nile (NILE), J2 Global (JCOM), Ormat (ORA), Synchronoss (SNCR), Tenaris (TS), ValueClick (VCLK), Disney (DIS), WMS (WMS)

Wednesday
Economic Weekly Crude, Pending Home (-0.6%), Productivity (1.2%), Consumer Credit ($6.3B)
Earnings Cognizant (CTSH), DIRECTV (DTV), FTI Consult (FCN), Lamar (LAMR), Comtech (COGO), Crocs (CROX), Mindray (MR)

Thursday
Economic Weekly Claims (370K), Wholesale Inv’s (0.4%)
Earnings Aecom (ACM), Alliant (ATK), AmBev (ABV), Celgene (CELG), Fortress (FIG), NASDAQ (NDAQ), OM Group (OMG), Tesoro (TSO), Urban O’Fitters (URBN), Agnico (AEM), Darling Intl (DAR), Hansen (HANS), MercadoLibre (MELI), NVIDIA (NVDA), Priceline (PCLN), Titanium Metals (TIE), VeriSign (VRSN), Zoltek (ZOLT)

Friday
|Economic Trade Balance (-$61.3B)
Earnings Aircastle (AYR), Clear Channel (CCU), Omrix (OMRI), Southern Union (SUG), Warner Chilcott (WCRX)

Monday
Economic ISM Services (49.5)
Earnings Goldcorp (GG), Marvel (MVL), Tidewater (TDW), Airgas (ARG), Anadarko (APC), McKesson (MCK), Ternium (TX), Weight Watchers (WTW)

Tuesday
Economic NA
Earnings Barrick (ABX), Fannie (FNM), Molson (TAP), PG&E (PCG), Blue Nile (NILE), J2 Global (JCOM), Ormat (ORA), Synchronoss (SNCR), Tenaris (TS), ValueClick (VCLK), Disney (DIS), WMS (WMS)

Wednesday
Economic Weekly Crude, Pending Home (-0.6%), Productivity (1.2%), Consumer Credit ($6.3B)
Earnings Cognizant (CTSH), DIRECTV (DTV), FTI Consult (FCN), Lamar (LAMR), Comtech (COGO), Crocs (CROX), Mindray (MR)

Thursday
Economic Weekly Claims (370K), Wholesale Inv’s (0.4%)
Earnings Aecom (ACM), Alliant (ATK), AmBev (ABV), Celgene (CELG), Fortress (FIG), NASDAQ (NDAQ), OM Group (OMG), Tesoro (TSO), Urban O’Fitters (URBN), Agnico (AEM), Darling Intl (DAR), Hansen (HANS), MercadoLibre (MELI), NVIDIA (NVDA), Priceline (PCLN), Titanium Metals (TIE), VeriSign (VRSN), Zoltek (ZOLT)

Friday
|Economic Trade Balance (-$61.3B)
Earnings Aircastle (AYR), Clear Channel (CCU), Omrix (OMRI), Southern Union (SUG), Warner Chilcott (WCRX)

Filed under: Stocks to Buy

With the U.S. economic landscape remaining uncertain, it's prudent to add a defensive stock or two to your portfolio, and with the aforementioned in mind Alliant Techsystems is worth an evaluation.

Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) is an ammunition supplier and rocket engine / motor manufacturer with substantial United States Government contracts.

Analysts like Alliant's strong fundamentals, solid U.S. Department of Defense orders for ammunition, equally impressive launch systems work from NASA, and sporting ammunition business.

Analysts also believe ATK is well-positioned to capture a portion of the U.S. DOD's work for next-generation weapon systems.

Meanwhile, margins should improve slightly in F2008 to 11%, and costs, while not low, are reasonable. The Reuters F2008/F2009 EPS consensus estimates for ATK are $6.39/$7.38.

The risks? An early withdrawal of U.S troops from Iraq would lower ATK's revenue for F2009-F2010. Analysts are also keeping an eye on the company's productivity per man hour.

The First Call mean rating for ATK is: Buy. [12 firms.] Mean 2008 target: $128. [high: $136, low: $120.]

Stock Analysis: Alliant Techsystems is a moderate-risk stock not suitable for low-risk investors. Investors with an investment horizon longer than 2 years should be rewarded from ATK's shares. Sell / Stop Loss if you were to purchase shares in this company: $68.

Disclosure: Lazzaro has no positions in stocks. In addition to private real estate holdings, he owns corporate and municipal bonds, and cash certificates of deposit.

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Monday
Economic: New Home Sales (645K)
Earnings: Black & Decker (BDK), Corning (GLW), Halliburton (HAL), McDonalds (MCD), Verizon (VZ), Airgas (ARG), American Express (AXP), Cemex (CX), SanDisk (SNDK), VMware (VMW)

Tuesday
Economic: Durable Orders (2.0%), Consumer Confidence (87)
Earnings: 3M (MMM), Burlington (BNI), Cardinal (CAH), Dow (DOW), EMC (EMC), Peabody (BTU), Smith (SII), Pepsi (PBG), Valero (VLO), Chubb (CB), Cymer (CYMI), Yahoo (YHOO)

Wednesday
Economic: ADP Survey, GDP / Chain Deflator Adv (1.2%, 2.6%), FOMC Decision
Earnings: Altria (MO), Kodak (EK), Illinois Tool (ITW), Legg Mason (LM), SAP (SAP), Southern (SO), Amazon (AMZN), Evergreen Solar (ESLR), Novellus (NVLS), Starbucks (SBUX)

Thursday
Economic: Weekly Claims (315K), Crude Inv, Employ Cost Index (.8%), Inc & Spend (.4%, .1%), Core PCE (.2%), Chicago PMI (53)
Earnings: Alliant (ATK), Blue Phoenix (BPHX), Celgene (CELG), Cameron (CAM), Invest Tech (ITG), L-3 (LLL), MasterCard (MA), Procter & Gamble (PG), Under Armour (UA), Dolby (DLB), Digital River (DRIV), E’ Arts (ERTS), In-Surgical (ISRG), Massey (MEE), Monster (MNST)

Friday
Economic: Jobs Data (55K, 5.0%, .3%), Auto / Truck (5.2M, 7.2M), Construction (-.5%), ISM (47.5), Michigan (79)
Earnings: Arch Coal (ACI), Chevron (CVX), Exxon (XOM), NYMEX (NMX), Oshkosh (OSK), Tidewater (TDW), Ryder (R)