Peraton Corp.'s earnings and cash flows will likely be weaker than we expected in 2025 as some profitable contracts end and working capital is a cash use. We affirmed our 'B-' issuer credit rating on the company and revised the outlook to negative from stable. At the same time, we affirmed our 'B-' issue-level rating on the company's first-lien debt. The '3' recovery rating is unchanged. The negative outlook reflects our expectation that credit ratios will be weaker than previously anticipated in 2025 and depend on stronger contract performance for improvement. Peraton had been working on a few defense contracts with higher than average margins that ended in 2024. The company's book-to-bill ratio was below 1x in 2024, resulting in
