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.

David Fried specializes in finding fundamentally strong companies that are also buying back their shares. A recent buy in his The Buyback Letter is defense contractor, Alliant TechSystems (NYSE: ATK)

He explains, "Alliant is a $3.9 billion advanced weapon and space systems company employing some 16,500 people in 21 states. It supplies aerospace and defense products to the U.S. government, allied nations, and prime contractors in the U.S."

Alliant, he notes, recently received a $62.5 million contract from Orbital Sciences Corporation for the main abort motor of the NASA Orion crew exploration vehicle Launch Abort System (LAS).

In addition, he points out that NASA's Orion will succeed the Space Shuttle in transporting humans to and from the International Space Station, as well as carrying crews to the Moon and eventually Mars. In late June, Fried adds, ATK received a contract worth more than $5 million to make rocket motors for the Sidewinder air-to-air missile system.

On tonight's MAD MONEY on CNBC, Jim Cramer said that he thinks defense and aerospace is becoming the seventh bull market and that we spend more than anyone else by far on defense. He feels the Democrats would spend a lot on defense to look strong. Cramer chose Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) last week as a pick, and he really likes Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) because it is the most leveraged name to defense spending, and because it is the cheapest -- according to his growth rate over P/E analysis. He likes its growth, debt retiring, and share buybacks. The first play is Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK) as the largest bullet manufacturer and is big into projectiles of all sorts. Alliant reports Thursday, so Cramer noted to only put on a half position so you don't have the earnings exposure as bad.

Alliant Techsystems has been one of my favorite plays in the sector for longer than I can recall. I even had it as a takeover candidate for a BAIT SHOP stock play, meaning it's potential takeover bait. The largest bullet manufacturer angle makes the company quite predictable, and its propulsion systems for space rockets and weapons systems gives it steady juice. But the secret and test propulsion business could be worth an unbelievable amount. Type in X-43A on a web search or go check it out on Space.com and see what comes up. That's theirs, and the future value for this technology could be astronomical.

Jon Ogg is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.