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Defense Stock Roundup: GD, LMT & BA Win Multi-Million Dollar Orders

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A generous flow of multi-million-dollar contracts from the Pentagon kept the major defense contractors buoyant over the past week. The broader market’s performance also remained positive as the U.S. Senate agreed to pass a $480 billion increase in the nation’s Treasury Department borrowing authority, thereby relieving investors’ concerns. This positive momentum on the bourses is likely to have also boosted defense stocks’ performance.

Consequently, the major defense stock indices ended in the green in the trailing five trading sessions. The S&P 500 Aerospace & Defense (Industry) index rose 2.2%, while the Dow Jones U.S. Aerospace & Defense index increased 1.8% in the aforementioned time period.

Among the past week’s highlights, defense majors namely General Dynamics (GD - Free Report) , Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) , Boeing (BA - Free Report) and Raytheon Technologies (RTX - Free Report) secured a number of notable deals from the Department of Defense’s daily funding session.

Recap of Past Week’s Important Stories

1.    General Dynamics’ Electric Boat unit clinched a modification contract worth $475 million to provide lead yard support efforts for the entire fleet of Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) through 2028. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. has awarded the contract, which is projected to be completed by December 2031.

Electric Boat will also support submarine industrial base development and expansion as part of the integrated enterprise plan (IEP) and multi-program material procurement (read more: General Dynamics Wins $475M Deal to Aid Submarine Fleet).

2.    Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems won a modification contract worth $445.5 million to provide production and deployed system support for the Trident II (D5) missile. The deal has been awarded by the Strategic System Programs, Washington, D.C.

Lockheed is expected to conclude the entire task related to this contract by Sep 30, 2026 (read more: Lockheed Wins $445M Deal to Support Trident Missiles).

3.    Boeing secured a contract worth $391.4 million for up to five CH-47F renew aircraft. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, AL awarded the deal.

The contract is expected to get completed by Sep 30, 2025 (read more: Boeing Wins $392M Contract for CH-47F Renew Aircraft).

The aircraft giant won another modification contract worth $173 million involving the integration of the Cockpit Pressure and On-Board Oxygen Generating Monitoring System into the new F/A-18E/F production aircraft. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, MD, awarded the deal.

Through this modification contract, Boeing can also procure aircraft armament equipment (AAE) to support the production and delivery of 78 F/A-18E/F aircraft (read more: Boeing Wins $173M Contract to Modify F/A-18 Aircraft).

4.    Raytheon Technologies has clinched a contract worth $358 million to deliver fiscal 2021-2023 Evolved Seasparrow Missile (ESSM) Block 2 full-rate production requirements. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. awarded the deal.

This contract includes options, which on being exercised will bring the cumulative value to $1.28 billion. The entire task is expected to be completed by March 2027 if the options are exercised (read more: Raytheon Wins $358M Navy Deal to Support ESSM Program).

Performance

Over the past five trading sessions, the defense biggies put up a solid show. Northrop (NOC - Free Report) gained the most, with a 6.3% rise in its share price, followed by Textron (TXT - Free Report) .

In the last six months, the industry's performance was mostly impressive, except that for Lockheed and Boeing. Textron gained the most this time with a 28.4% surge in share price, followed by Raytheon.

The following table shows the price movement of the major defense players over the past five trading days and during the last six months.

CompanyPast WeekLast 6 Months
LMT0.92%-7.47%
BA2.97%-10.92%
GD2.91%9.17%
RTX4.87%15.04%
NOC6.26%14.59%
TXT5.00%28.44%
LHX4.72%10.54%

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