Investing.com -- Piper Sandler has started coverage of Mercury Systems with an Overweight rating and a $126 price target, pointing to autonomy and next-generation defense computing as a new growth vector for the company. Analyst Clarke Jeffries told investors that Mercury, with more than 40 years in defense electronics, has "built a robust business by converting commercial silicon into secure, ruggedized computing for the Defense sector." Piper Sandler described Mercury as a critical supplier of advanced mission systems and a sole-source vendor on more than 300 active defense programs across 25-plus prime contractors. The analyst adds that autonomous systems and command-and-control initiatives such as CJADC2 should further increase demand. Related articlesMercury Systems: Piper Sandler bullish on ruggedized compute growthThese 2 stocks are best positioned to benefit from higher uranium prices: analystAs Claude disrupts stock market, Anthropic researcher warns 'world is in peril'