That’s why here at Money Morning we’re more interested incompanies that can secure a lot of smaller contracts on a consistent basis – and that can transform those deals into predictable, double-digit growth.

We refer to these modest-contract specialists as the “Masters of the Small Bid.”

Let me explain…

As we’ve stated, the companies we’re targeting aren’t characterized by headline-grabbing mega-contract wins, but by their proven ability to land smaller, more-stable deals. You see, by spreading their risk across many smaller deals rather than just swinging from the heels every time, the companies we follow are able to generate a consistent stream of earnings – despite a slowing economy, a wrenching credit-crisis and damaged investor confidence.

In short, our “masters” have kept themselves in front of paying customers at a time when other firms are simply worried about having customers.

Let’s look at several strong examples.

A Sample of Strong-Bid Masters

It’s no coincidence that our first example – defense-contractor and aerospace expert Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) – has been around for decades, and is a proven survivor. Remembered as the designer of the P-38 Lightning fighter of World War II fame – an aircraft so deadly that Nazi leaders ruefully dubbed the twin-boomed airplane “The Fork-Tailed Devil” – Lockheed Corp. went on to build the graceful Lockheed Constellation airliner in the 1950s and the cutting-edge F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter in the 1980s.

A disastrous foray into commercial jetliners – in which only 250 airplanes were sold, even though the program lasted from 1968 until 1984 – would have likely bankrupted many companies. But Lockheed’s been a survivor. Indeed, back in the 1990s, to keep pace with a wave of defense-sector consolidations that created a smaller group of bigger players, Lockheed linked up with Martin Marietta Corp. to form Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin re-established its fame with the so-called “Skunk Works” advanced-technology unit, and even today remains a defense-sector heavyweight. But it’s also a Master of the Small Bid. For proof, just look at some recent deals.

Lockheed roared into April, landing a $50 million contract for the U.S. Navy on April 1, and a $234 million Air Force contract on April 2. A week later, the company landed a deal a day for four straight days, in the process rolling up $725 million in total business from the U.S. Army, the Turkish military, and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.

The rest of the month saw still more action as the Navy signed on Lockheed for a one-year, $15.5-million contract for continued program management and engineering services for the United Kingdom’s Trident II D5 Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) program. The company closed the month in a decisive manner with two more major deals on April 30. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) signed a $39.5 million contract modification with Lockheed Martin Space Systems to implement an employee-retention program, while the Navy supplied a contract boost worth up to $190 million to supply tooling and special test equipment for its new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

Not a bad month’s work. And it’s certainly representative of how Lockheed generates a predictable earnings stream. Because of deals such as these, the company’s share price rose nearly 8% in the month of April alone. In May we’ve been seeing even more deals, and the stock is advancing again.

Clearly, small deals can have a big impact on a company’s bottom line.

The Gamer That Doesn’t Play Games

At a time when other gamers are worrying about the next best thing, Japan-based Konami Corp. (ADR: KNM) retooled one of their most successful releases, Metal Gear Solid, adapted it for mobile phones, and then built up a lot of buzz as they pushed it out to customers of the Verizon Wireless unit of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ).

Not only did Konami save a lot of money because it wasn’t developing a new platform from scratch, it also kept its audience smaller to produce bigger returns per person.

While the pumped-up adolescent males soak up this stealth shooter game, Konami hasn’t forgotten to take care of the over-moneyed and under-served teenage-girl market with its recent new game, “Diary Girl.” The Nintendo Co. Ltd. (OTC ADR: NTDOY) Nintendo DS game provides girls of all ages the ability to interact with friends, while also organizing a calendar and address book in their own, password-protected electronic journal.

A month ago, Konami announced an agreement with Win Systems International Holdings Inc., to use Konami content in certain of Win’s pending lottery and gaming projects in Europe and Latin America.

Deals like this have caused Konami’s shares to seek higher ground. With a 19% gain over the past three months, the only thing that could help this company even more is if it had a highly awaited Sony Corp. (ADR: SNE) PlayStation 3 game coming in the near future – which just happens to be the case. Metal Gear Solid 4, the highly awaited PlayStation 3 game, will debut June 12.

But for investors with an interest in long-term profits, this is a story that’s well worth a detailed look. It will leave you with a very clear understanding of why China is a “must invest” kind of market. And it will demonstrate, yet again, how committed China is to becoming a world economic superpower, as well as the tenacity that’s likely to make that happen.

Let’s start with a look at the basics.

Two weekends ago in Shanghai, the Chinese government unveiled its first “jumbo” passenger aircraft company, a venture that’s labeled as the Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd. (CACC). By “jumbo” jet, China is referring to the so-called widebody airliners that carry 200 to 800 passengers and make globetrotting trips to almost any point on the globe.

Right now – and for many years – the world jumbo-jet market has belonged to just two companies:

• The Boeing Co. (BA), the U.S.-based airliner industry pioneer that’s America’s biggest exporter.
• And the pan-European venture, Airbus SAS, a subsidiary of European defense giant EADS NV.

With its 747 “Jumbo Jet,” Boeing both defined and dominated the jumbo market. The jetliner, with its distinctive humpbacked silhouette, made its first commercial flight in 1970, and held the passenger-capacity record for 37 years – a mark that was finally eclipsed by the Airbus 380.

Lockheed Corp. – now Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) – was the first to pull the ripcord on the jumbo-jet market. Its L-1011 TriStar jet had been the third widebody jet to enter operation, following the 747 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, which was built by McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Corp, a defense/commercial airliner firm. Lockheed launched the jet in 1968 and, thanks to hugely disappointing orders (it only built 250 of the jets), ceased production in 1984.

McDonnell Douglas stayed around a bit longer. But it finally merged with Boeing in 1997, joining a long list of aerospace firms swallowed up by bigger suitors.

If the jumbo-jet market sounds like a tough one to crack, that’s because it truly is. But those difficulties don’t emanate from a lack of demand: The market is huge.

The $3 Trillion Shopping List

Indeed, over the next 20 years, Boeing has forecast that air carriers worldwide will require 28,600 commercial aircraft with a value of $2.8 trillion. The Boeing forecast is generally viewed as the world’s best analysis of the global market for commercial airliners and cargo aircraft. And this forecast isn’t limited to jumbo-sized passenger jets: It includes short-range connector planes, regional jets, cargo planes and the jumbos.

The huge revenue potential of the global airliner market – combined with the low number of viable competitors and the high barriers faced by new potential entrants – has been a big reason that Money Morning’s investment gurus all view Boeing as a promising profit play for years to come. Not even China’s plans will change that viewpoint.

But with such a large potential market, many observers find it surprising that there aren’t more potential players.

That’s changing – or at least it is at the lower end of the market. China and Russia are both well along on government-backed programs to develop a regional jetliner for sale to global customers. In the past month or so alone – as was reported here in Money Morning – Japan entered the regional jetliner shootout: Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (PINK: MHVYF) has unveiled a plan to develop a “regional” jetliner for use by airlines all around the world. The development work alone is expected to cost several billion dollars, but the program has the backing of both Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) – the world’s No. 1 automaker by sales – and the Japanese government.

Mitsubishi Heavy hopes to have the jet in the air by 2013 and is aiming to sell 1,000 of the airplanes over the next 20 to 30 years, grabbing one-fifth of expected new demand in a market that is projected to roughly quintuple to more than 5,000 planes by 2026.

However, it could be a bumpy flight: Incumbents Bombardier Inc., of Canada, and Embraer (Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA) (ERJ) of Brazil, currently dominate the short-range jetliner market. Both the China and Russia ventures will take wing well before Japan’s new jet, and the eventual existence of all five combatants in this slice of the airline market could lead to some pretty congested airspace – especially since several players are expected to link up with market-savvy foreign heavyweights, including, potentially, Boeing.

As tough as that sounds, attacking the jumbo-jet market will be tougher still. Even with fewer contestants.

Jumbo Challenges for a Jumbo Jet

The tremendous appetite for capital, the engineering challenges that range from complex aerodynamics to new composite materials, and the need to be able to manage a string of suppliers scattered about the globe are just a few of the hefty demands that make this mountain too high for all but a few global companies to climb.

Right now, in fact, there are only two new jumbo jet programs under way, either in development or in testing, and both have been riddled with technical problems that have resulted in pushed-back delivery dates. There are:

• The Boeing 787 “Dreamliner,” a replacement for the company’s Boeing 767. It’s making heavy use of composite materials and depends heavily on a network of global suppliers, and delays have pushed the delivery date for the first jets well into next year.
• And the Airbus A350, a replacement for the Airbus A330/A340 line, and a program whose many delays have pushed its delivery date out to an estimated 2012 or 2013, according to several sources.

Given that huge companies such as McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed have gone up against Boeing and failed, many analysts are skeptical about the “commercial prospects” of a jumbo jet designed and built in China. China has virtually no experience in this market and the two other (known) attempts – ventures with Douglas and Airbus – ended in failure.

And even if China succeeds, it’ll be a good 20 years before U.S. or European airlines flying China-built jets will be ready to lose your bags on a regular basis.