New York, January 9, 2026, 19:15 ET — After-hours
- RTX shares rose about 0.7% in late trading on Friday
- Trump’s order would tie buybacks, dividends and executive pay to weapons delivery performance
- RTX urged holders to reject a $130 mini-tender offer expiring Jan. 12; earnings due Jan. 27
RTX Corp shares rose about 0.7% to $188.50 in after-hours trade on Friday as investors kept sorting through a Trump administration order that could curb dividends and share buybacks at major defense contractors. 1
The order matters because cash returns are a big part of the defense-stock pitch. Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, L3Harris and RTX paid roughly $8 billion in dividends over the last 12 months and bought back about $10 billion of stock, Morgan Stanley data compiled by Reuters showed. Buybacks are when a company repurchases its own shares, often lifting earnings per share by shrinking the share count. 2
Contractors have been calling lawyers, and the industry is bracing for a messy rollout. “Ultimately, this announcement results in more questions than answers,” TD Cowen analyst Roman Schweizer wrote, adding he expected the Pentagon to clarify definitions and benchmarks. 3
RTX also flagged a separate, smaller issue for shareholders this week. The company said it received notice of an unsolicited “mini-tender” offer from Tutanota LLC to buy up to 500,000 RTX shares at $130 each, and urged holders not to tender because the price is below the market and the offer carries conditions; it is currently scheduled to expire at 5:00 p.m. EST on Jan. 12. Mini-tender offers typically target less than 5% of a company’s shares, sidestepping some SEC disclosure and procedural rules, RTX said. 4
Defense stocks have been jumpy since Trump’s comments hit midweek, but some names rallied into the weekend. Lockheed and Northrop each rose more than 4% in Friday’s session, while RTX gained about 0.7%, MarketWatch data showed. 5
But the downside case is straightforward: if the administration uses contract leverage aggressively — even before courts weigh in — the threat of delayed payments, tougher terms or lost work could change how investors value the sector’s steady cash-return model. The bigger risk for RTX is not the paperwork. It is uncertainty around what “underperformance” means and how quickly Washington tries to enforce it.
Next up: investors will watch for any Pentagon guidance tied to the executive order, the Jan. 12 mini-tender deadline, and RTX’s fourth-quarter results on Jan. 27, when the company is due to give its 2026 outlook. 6
