Just when most investors believe it shares had topped out and were ready to level off, OshKosh (NYSE:OSK) goes and wins yet another huge contract.

When I first started tracking the heavy-equipment manufacturer late last year, shares were going for just $5.76. After a quick, in-and-out recommendation, readers that followed my recommendation locked in gains of 35%.

Not bad, but we should have held our shares.

As I write, those same shares are trading for over $34.00, good for gains of just shy of 500%, up 25% today alone.

Obviously, when a stock surges by that much in that short of a period, the market made some forecasting errors. In the case of Oshkosh, nobody could have predicted the company’s ability to deliver a knockout right hook to its competition.

After all, Oshkosh has some fierce competition, chiefly BAE Sytems.

David versus Goliath

Over the six months, shares have soared based on the news Oshkosh was awarded a billion-dollar contract from the Pentagon. While today’s news that the company locked in yet another $280 million worth of Army spending is not nearly the size of the previous deal, it highlights the fact that BAE is having one tough time beating the deals Oshkosh is putting on the table.

With several major contracts under the company’s belt, investors are beginning to realize Oshkosh may no longer be a small, niche player.

Thanks to over $1.3 billion in government-funded revenues so far this year, Oshkosh appears to be building enough momentum and financial stability to turn the company into a fantastic growth story.

As for BAE, the top-line figures the Street is putting onto Oshkosh’s income statement are being pulled off the British firm’s valuation. Shares of BAE were down by over 5% today.

While we missed out on spectacular triple-digit gains, I am not going to complain one bit.

First, we locked in 35% gains in the eye of a nasty recession. Next, the market’s recent action proves I was not the only one limiting the company’s growth potential.

And finally, who is going to complain when an American company is locking in jobs building trucks for American forces?

Here’s a tip of my hat to Oshkosh and its winning ways. Keep up the good work.

Source: David versus Goliath: Oshkosh Wins Yet Another Big Contract

This from The Wall Street Journal:

With oil’s multi-year ascent showing no signs of stopping — crude futures set another record Tuesday, closing at $129.07 a barrel in New York trading — energy security has emerged as a major concern for the Pentagon.

The U.S. military consumes 340,000 barrels of oil a day, or 1.5% of all of the oil used in the country. The Defense Department’s overall energy bill was $13.6 billion in 2006, the latest figure available — almost 25% higher than the year before. The Air Force’s bill for jet fuel alone has tripled in the past four years. When the White House submitted its latest budget request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it tacked on a $2 billion surcharge for rising fuel costs.

Synthetic fuel, which can be made from coal or natural gas, is expensive now, but could cost far less than the current price of oil if it’s mass-produced.

The report also reveals that the Pentagon has embraced planning around peak oil theory:

Earlier this year, they brought Houston investment banker Matthew Simmons to the Pentagon for a presentation on peak oil; he warned that under the theory, “energy security becomes an oxymoron.”

“The U.S. will adopt liquid coal (also known as coal to liquid or CTL), because it has to do so,” says Byron King in his Energy and Oil blog.

“There are few other large-scale industrial alternatives. Windmills, biofuels, conservation and every other energy-saving and energy-extending idea will help. But the world we live in is built to run on oil, and nothing else will cut it for some things when it comes to running a fast-transforming economy. So stand by for liquid coal.”