Weekly #23: Aerospace & Defense Strength at $BUKS & $FTG.TO, Plus a Softer Quarter at $ICCC
Week Ending 07/12/26: $FTG.TO, $BUKS, & $ICCC
Highlights
FTG.TO (Quarterly Results): Strong sales, EPS and backlog numbers, but we’d wait for a pullback.
BUKS (Quarterly Results): Excellent Q4 2026 results driven entirely by aerospace segment + backlog and increasing capex.
ICCC (Preliminary Results): Preliminary Q2 sales +11.5% YoY to $7.2M, but down sharply from $10.4M last quarter as flagged. Watching whether Q2 profitability holds.
The following will cover stocks that are either in our microcap quality indices (MSMqi) or in our research journal (stocks that don’t quite qualify for the MSMqi but might be close).
Studs (Positive News)
1) FTG.TO | Aerospace Electronics Manufacturer
Quarterly Results
FTG.TO posted strong Q2 2026 results with sales of $52.7M vs $48.7M in the prior year and EPS of $0.20 vs $0.14 in the previous year.
Bookings and backlog numbers are impressive:
Bookings: $86.7 million, marking a 89% increase over Q2 2025 and a book-to-bill ratio of 1.64:1
Backlog: The quarter-end backlog stood at $193.5 million, a 30% rise from the previous year end.
And the company has strong exposure to aerospace & defence tailwinds:
Aerospace: Both Airbus and Boeing have 10-year backlogs and are increasing production.
Defense: Trump proposed to increase defense spending by 40%, and NATO countries have to increase their defense spending from 2.0% of GDP to 3.5% of GDP.
It’s evident that Firan has strong fundamentals; our only issue is that the stock trades at a 2027 P/E of 25.7x. We are closely monitoring the stock, but we would rather wait for a pullback.
Note: Stock is in our Microcap Quality Index
2) BUKS | Aerospace Services and Casino Operations
Quarterly Results
BUKS posted strong Q4 2026 results with sales of $27.7M vs $21.6M in the prior year and EPS of $0.09 vs $0.05 in the previous year.
In case you are not familiar with BUKS (although I’m sure many of you are), the company has two segments:
Professional Services: The company runs the Boot Hill Casino. Management has explicitly mentioned that this is the cash cow of the business; do not expect much growth over here.
Aerospace Products: Three businesses
Avcon: Takes existing aircraft (Learjets, King Airs, Challengers) and modifies them for special missions: surveillance, cargo, medical, military use. Each modification design gets a one-time FAA approval (an “STC”), which Avcon then resells as repeat installations and DIY kits. Think of it as a library of certified blueprints that earn royalties for years.
Butler Avionics: Sells and installs cockpit electronics (radios, flight displays, autopilots) and supports Avcon’s installs.
Butler National-Tempe: Builds rugged electronic control boxes for defense customers, including the trigger/control units for the M134 minigun.
As seen in the table below, growth was entirely driven by this segment, which now comprises around 60% of sales.