Overview
- Pre-market Thursday, Northrop Grumman rose 7.82%, Lockheed Martin gained 6.52%, L3Harris added 6.29%, and RTX climbed 4.45% following the higher spending call.
- Hours after threatening to ban dividends and buybacks and to cap defense executives’ pay at $5 million, Trump proposed a $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027.
- Lockheed Martin fell 4.82% during Wednesday trading on the payout threats, then jumped about 7% after hours once the larger budget proposal was posted.
- Trump singled out RTX’s Raytheon for slow delivery performance and warned it could lose contracts unless it increases investment in plants and equipment.
- Analysts highlighted valuation differences if spending ramps, describing RTX as the premium bet, Lockheed as the execution trade, and Northrop as the value anchor.