IperionX Ltd (ASX: IPX) shares are catching the eye again on Wednesday.
At the time of writing, the ASX defence stock is up over 9% to $4.57.
This means the titanium metal and critical materials company's shares are now up 28% since this time last week.
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Why is this ASX defence stock jumping again?
Last week, investors were fighting to get hold of IperionX shares after it announced a defence contract win from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
The ASX defence stock was awarded a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. This allows IperionX to receive task order funding from U.S. DoD agencies for its titanium components and parts up to a total of US$99 million (A$152 million).
This morning, the company revealed that it has now received its first order relating to this contract award.
According to the release, a task order has been placed from the U.S. Army for the production and delivery of titanium parts for U.S. Army ground vehicle programs.
It can't say much about the order as all technical specifications, performance requirements, and delivery schedules are governed under the U.S Controlled Unclassified Information Program (Executive Order 13556), ensuring protection of sensitive defence information. But what we do know is that the order is valued at US$1.3 million.
Management advised that the U.S. Army task order will be fulfilled at IperionX's Titanium Manufacturing Campus in Virginia, using proprietary titanium production and advanced forging processes.
It believes that manufacturing these critical titanium components in America strengthens supply-chain resilience and reduces reliance on foreign titanium sources, while creating high-value manufacturing jobs in the United States.
Commenting on the task order, the ASX defence stock's CEO, Anastasios (Taso) Arima, said:
Securing this first U.S. Army task order is a decisive step toward reshoring the nation's titanium supply chain. It marks the beginning of a long-term partnership with the Department of Defense that will deliver mission-critical titanium parts and strengthen America's advanced-materials leadership. We look forward to rapidly scaling with additional task orders under our US$99 million contract.
This latest again means that IperionX shares are now up an incredible 115% since this time in 2024.
This means that anyone lucky enough to have invested $5,000 into its shares a year ago, would now have a holding worth approximately $10,750.
As a comparison, the ASX 200 index is up a decent 11.1% over the same period.
