Seven Ways to Profit from the GOP’s Pledge to Sustain Defense Spending

Investors typically hate it when a stock bombs, but there are also times when bombs can make for good investments - and right now could be one of them. With the Republicans seizing control of the U.S. House of Representatives and making gains in the Senate in Tuesday's mid-term elections, it now seems far more likely that the GOP will be able to honor its pledge not to cut defense outlays as it seeks to rein in discretionary government spending. For the near term, that means the proposed 2011 U.S. defense budget of $708 billion should get through Congress relatively unscathed. It's also likely there will be less pressure to cut military spending in the budget battles for upcoming years - and that could bode well for most of the major U.S. defense contractors.