- By Holmes Osborne, CFA

Airbus (EADSY, EADSF) is an aircraft manufacturer based in Toulouse, France. The company, along with Boeing, is the top aerospace manufacturer in the world. Sales and earnings have been growing quite well, and the stock trades at a reasonable price.

The stock trades for 70.92 euros ($74.83), there are 783 million shares, and the market cap is 55.5 billion euros. The stock pays a 1.35 euro dividend, and the dividend yield is 1.9%. Adjusted earnings per share were 3.31 euros, and the price-earnings (P/E) ratio is 21.4. Actual earnings were 1.29 euros. Its stock has outperformed Boeing's (BA) since 2007. I got the idea from reading GuruFocus' article on IVA International Fund's holdings.

Sales went from 49.13 billion euros in 2011 to 64.19 billion euros for the trailing 12 months. That's pretty good growth. Net income went from 1 billion euros to 2.61 billion euros over that time frame. Adjusted EBIT is 5.9%. Free cash flow (before M&A) was 3.181 billion euros. The free cash flow yield is 5.73%.

Of the sales, 73% is commercial, 9% helicopters and 18% defense; 33% of orders come from Asia, 21% Europe, 18% North America, 13% the Middle East, 5% Latin America and 10% other countries. I'm surprised at what a high percentage Asia represents and what a low percentage North America. Of the commercial, 79% is single aisle, 10% the A330, 7% A350 and 4% A380.

The debt is rated A+ by Standard & Poor's. The company lists gross cash as 21.6 billion euros and financing as 10.438 billion euros. There are also pension liabilities and a huge amount of currency hedges.

The A380 is the largest aircraft ever built. It holds a maximum of 853 passengers and has a distance of 15,200 kilometers. The Eurofighter is the preferred fighter jet of many European and Middle Eastern countries. The defense division also produces satellites and other high-tech instruments used in space exploration. The helicopter division produces for both military and civilian use. The Tiger is Airbus' attack helicopter with a 30-millimeter turreted gun and several rockets. It's an impressive-looking piece of equipment. Some of Airbus' parts are made on 3D printers from a South African company. According to Fortune, the company is building a self-flying electric plane that can travel 50 miles.

Airbus manufactured the famous Concorde. The Concorde could fly at Mach 2 (2,160 kilometers per hour) and make the London-to-New York trip in three hours. Sully landed an Airbus 320 in the Hudson so they must be pretty good.

Airbus is having a heck of a time with the military A400M - a massive turboprop plane. The company took a 1.2 billion euro charge last year on the massive plane.

KKR recently agreed to buy Airbus' electrical division of its defense business for an enterprise value of approximately 1.1 billion euros. Airbus will maintain a 25.1% minority stake for a limited number of years.

Is the stock a buy? If the economy keeps chugging along, I guess it could be. If there is a war, probably. If gas prices rise, maybe not. It's a great company with a great product. Boeing and Airbus battle it out every day, all over the globe. As the stock trades on the pink sheets in the U.S., it is not followed like American blue chips. Make no mistake, Airbus is a blue chip.

Disclosure: We do not own shares.

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Airbus and Boeing Battle for Aerospace Supremacy - Yahoo Finance - Yahoo Finance