Aerospace and Defense Giant RTX Raises Outlook, Citing Strong Demand and $289 Billion Backlog

RTX Corp. (NYSE: RTX ) stock rose in premarket trading Thursday after the aerospace and defense company reported second-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates and raised its full-year financial outlook.

The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.89 per share, beating analysts’ estimate of $1.66 per share, according to Pro.

Sales increased 14% year over year to $24.71 billion, ahead of estimates of $22.89 billion.

Organic sales grew 16%.

Earnings And Cash Flow GAAP diluted earnings per share rose 29% to $1.57, while adjusted earnings per share increased 21% to $1.89.

Net income climbed 29% to $2.14 billion, while adjusted net income increased 22% to $2.58 billion.

Quarterly results included acquisition accounting adjustments that reduced earnings by 27 cents per share, restructuring and other charges of 5 cents per share, and a pretax litigation charge of $69 million.

Operating cash flow totaled $3.55 billion, while free cash flow reached $2.88 billion after capital expenditures of $669 million.

RTX ended the quarter with $8.31 billion in cash and cash equivalents.

Long-term debt stood at $31.86 billion, including $5.30 billion due within one year.

Backlog And Portfolio Total backlog increased 22% from a year earlier to $289 billion, including $170 billion in commercial orders and $119 billion in defense orders.

The company also agreed to sell Raytheon’s Blue Canyon Technologies business for $620 million.

Segment Performance Collins Aerospace reported sales of $8.21 billion, up 8% year over year, or 13% organically.

Commercial original equipment sales rose 26%, commercial aftermarket sales increased 10% and defense sales grew 7%.

Adjusted operating profit increased 10% to $1.37 billion, with margin expanding to 16.7%.

Pratt & Whitney posted sales of $8.89 billion, up 16%.

Commercial aftermarket sales climbed 25% and military sales rose 23%, partly offset by an 8% decline in commercial original equipment sales.

Adjusted operating profit increased 22% to $740 million.

Raytheon generated sales of $8.27 billion, up 18%, driven by higher demand for land and air defense systems, naval programs and air and space defense systems, including Patriot, Standard Missile and AMRAAM.

Adjusted operating profit rose 29% to $1.04 billion, lifting margin to 12.6%.

Raised 2026 Outlook RTX raised its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to a range of $7.10 to $7.25 per share from its prior outlook of $6.70 to $6.90 per share.

The new guidance is above analysts’ estimate of $6.92 per share.

The company also increased its sales forecast to $95 billion to $96 billion from $92.5 billion to $93.5 billion.

Analysts were expecting $94.09 billion.

RTX now expects organic sales growth of 8% to 9%, up from its previous forecast of 5% to 6%.

The company raised its free cash flow outlook to $8.50 billion to $8.75 billion from its prior range of $8.25 billion to $8.75 billion.

RTX Price Action: RTX shares were up 4.83% at $204.30 during premarket trading on Thursday, according to Pro data.

Image via Shutterstock Read Also: RTX's Pratt & Whitney Wins British Airways Engine Deal