RTX (NYSE: RTX), the aerospace and defense giant, saw its shares jump 3.4% in afternoon trading after its Raytheon business was awarded a $1.1 billion contract from the U.S. Navy to produce AIM-9X Block II missiles.
Under the terms of the contract, Raytheon will produce the missiles along with associated hardware and software for both the U.S. military and foreign allies to meet increased demand.
To handle the growing volume of orders, Raytheon is scaling up its production capacity to 2,500 missiles annually, reflecting the heightened defense spending environment across Western nations.
The contract win reinforced an already positive stance from Wall Street analysts, who maintained a bullish consensus on the stock heading into the announcement.
Shares were trading at $198.86, up 3.7% from the previous close, putting the stock within striking distance of its 52-week high of $212.16, reached in March 2026.
RTX’s shares are not particularly volatile, having recorded only one move greater than 5% over the past year, making today’s gain a notable signal that markets view this development as genuinely meaningful.
The largest single-day move over the past year came eight months ago, when the stock surged 9.5% following a blowout third-quarter 2025 earnings report that beat expectations across the board.
In that quarter, RTX posted revenue of $22.48 billion, representing an 11.9% year-on-year increase that surpassed analyst estimates, while adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.70, up from $1.45 in the same period the prior year.
That figure comfortably exceeded Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $1.41 per share, prompting management to raise its full-year adjusted sales guidance to a midpoint of $86.75 billion and adjusted earnings per share guidance to a midpoint of $6.15.
RTX is up 6.2% since the beginning of the year, and investors who purchased $1,000 worth of shares five years ago would now be holding a position worth approximately $2,294, underscoring the stock’s long-term compounding strength.
