The firm won a deal with the U.S. military to develop and manufacture a nuclear-armed cruise missile
Raytheon Technologies Corp (NYSE:RTX) is slightly higher this morning, last seen up 0.6% to trade at $86.70, following news that it won a $2 billion U.S. Air Force contract to develop and manufacture a nuclear-armed cruise missile, replacing the aging air missile that was fielded in the early 1980s. Completion is expected by February 2027, with manufacturing taking place in Tucson, Arizona.
RTX crested toward the $90 level early last month, hitting an annual high just below the level on Jun. 10. The 60-day moving average contained most of its subsequent pullback, though the 20-day moving average still looms as potential pressure on the charts. Year-to-date, Raytheon stock is up 20.6%.
Analysts are mostly optimistic on RTX. The 12-month consensus price target of $98.18 is a 13.9% premium to current levels, and represents a region not yet touched by RTX. Plus, of the 12 covering the security, nine consider it a "strong buy" rating.
Short-term options traders have been a bit more put-biased than usual. This is per RTX's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.66, which stands higher than 88% of readings from the past 12 months.