New York, Jan 8, 2026, 05:16 EST — Premarket
- RTX shares rose in premarket as defense names steadied after Trump floated a $1.5 trillion U.S. military budget
- A White House order targets buybacks and dividends for contractors deemed to be underperforming
- RTX has set Jan. 27 for earnings and urged holders to reject a $130 “mini-tender” offer
RTX shares rose 4.6% in premarket trading on Thursday after President Donald Trump called for a $1.5 trillion U.S. military budget for next year. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman were up more than 6% in early trade. “Geopolitics is the inescapable story of 2026 thus far,” said Neil Wilson, UK investor strategist at Saxo Bank; Investec analyst Ben Bourne said the move could fuel a rotation into UK defence names. Reuters
For RTX Corporation and its peers, the sector is being repriced on two moving parts: a bigger top-line spending signal from Washington, and fresh pressure on how contractors use cash. Buybacks — when a company repurchases its own shares — have been a target, and investors are trying to work out what becomes contract language and what stays political noise.
RTX fell 2.5% in the previous session to close at $185.73, leaving the stock about $4.68 below the prior close. The swing matters because RTX is weeks away from reporting results, when questions on capital returns and factory spending tend to land hardest.
On Wednesday, Trump singled out Raytheon, RTX’s main defence unit, and threatened to cut government business if the company kept buying back stock. “Under no circumstances will they be allowed to do any additional Stock Buybacks,” he wrote on social media. Reuters
A White House fact sheet on the executive order said it directs the Secretary of War to flag contractors deemed to be underperforming and, if disputes are not resolved, pursue remedies ranging from contract changes to steps under the Defense Production Act, a U.S. law used to steer industrial output. The document also said future contracts should bar buybacks and “corporate distributions” during periods of underperformance and called for tighter links between executive incentives and delivery and production metrics. The White House
RTX also told shareholders on Wednesday to reject an unsolicited “mini-tender” offer from Tutanota LLC to buy up to 500,000 shares at $130 per share, a price it said was well below recent market levels. Mini-tenders seek less than 5% of a company’s shares and can sidestep some disclosure and procedural rules that apply to larger tender offers; RTX said the offer is scheduled to expire at 5 p.m. EST on Jan. 12 and noted shareholders can withdraw shares already tendered. RTX
The company said this week it will report fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on Jan. 27 before the market opens, with a conference call set for 8:30 a.m. ET. Investors will be looking for any comment on 2026 demand, production capacity and how the company plans to balance investment with cash returns if Washington pushes harder on payouts. RTX
Still, the order’s reach is unclear, and contractors could challenge any attempt to weave payout limits into contracts already signed. A messy rollout could leave the sector whipsawed again, even if defence budgets rise. RTX also has to manage commercial aerospace issues at Pratt & Whitney alongside defence demand, a mix that can tug results in different directions.
