Annual Sales $14 billion

Rank 14th (Revenue greater than $5 billion)

Average Five-Year Score Improvement 14th (up 3%)

A two-year drive by CEO Michael Strianese to unify a disparate collection of more than 70 defense and homeland security businesses has excited investors, who made L-3 the top-performing large-cap U.S. defense stock last year. But L-3 still lags most of its peers in operational efficiency and improvement, a sign that the changes will take time to pay off. L-3's TPC score also was hurt by hefty goodwil--the purchase price above an asset's market value--left over from its pre-Strianese acquisition binge.