NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Raytheon Co. (RTN) - Get Report closed up by 2.89% to $109.60 on heavy volume on Monday afternoon, following reports that the defense technology company is in talks to acquire Websense Inc., a network-security company owned by the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners LLC.

There is no guarantee a sale will happen sources speaking to Bloomberg said. However, last week Bloomberg reported that Vista has hired Citigroup Inc. (C) - Get Report to sell Websense for over $1 billion.

In January, Raytheon CFO Dave Wajsgras said the company is looking to make additional purchases in order expand its cyber capabilities and electronic warfare operations, Bloomberg noted.

In November, Raytheon bought cybersecurity and surveillance company Blackbird Technologies for $420 million in order to boost its intelligence segment.

"We will continue to focus on technology-based acquisitions in areas that we see can expand our markets and build off of our technology foundation," Wajsgras said, Bloomberg noted.

Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates RAYTHEON CO as a Buy with a ratings score of A. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate RAYTHEON CO (RTN) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, increase in stock price during the past year, reasonable valuation levels and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow."

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:

• RTN's revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 0.4%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly increased by 4.7%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
• The current debt-to-equity ratio, 0.56, is low and is below the industry average, implying that there has been successful management of debt levels. Along with the favorable debt-to-equity ratio, the company maintains an adequate quick ratio of 1.01, which illustrates the ability to avoid short-term cash problems.
• Compared to where it was a year ago today, the stock is now trading at a higher level, reflecting both the market's overall trend during that period and the fact that the company's earnings growth has been robust. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.
• Current return on equity exceeded its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a clear sign of strength within the company. Compared to other companies in the Aerospace & Defense industry and the overall market on the basis of return on equity, RAYTHEON CO has underperformed in comparison with the industry average, but has exceeded that of the S&P 500.
• You can view the full analysis from the report here: RTN Ratings Report