The war in Ukraine drags on and the Iran-Israel conflict remains unsettled, providing opportunities for defense and commercial aircraft contractors like RTX . Among other projects, RTX is helping modernize the Air Force's F-22 Raptor jet fighter. Rising commercial air travel is lifting sales to aircraft makers too.
Arlington, Va.-based RTX got a welcome upgrade to its IBD Relative Strength (RS) Rating Wednesday, from 70 to 73, putting it within close range of a key milestone. Its other ratings are even higher.
The rating upgrade means that RTX stock is among the top 70% of stocks for price performance this past year. Market history reveals that the top-performing stocks often have an RS Rating above 80 as they begin their largest price moves. See if RTX can continue to show renewed price strength and clear that threshold.
Mutual Funds Adding RTX To Portfolios
Among its other ratings Pratt & Whitney-parent RTX has a 79 EPS Rating and an 87 Composite Rating, a mix of IBD's five other top ratings. Like the RS Rating, its Composite is nearing a milestone. The best growth stocks often have a Composite Rating of 90 or higher.
RTX stock also has a C Accumulation/Distribution Rating, showing that mutual funds, insurance funds and the like are buying about as many shares as they are selling. One bullish indicator though is that the number of funds that hold RTX stock rose from 1,854 in the June-ended quarter to 1,995 in December.
When To Sell Stocks To Lock In Profits And Minimize Losses
RTX stock rose to an all-time high at 128.70 on Oct. 22 and has consolidated since then. It's currently trying to complete a flat base with a 128.70 entry. See if the stock can break out in volume at least 40% higher than normal. Thursday afternoon, the aerospace supplier traded close to 116, up for the day.
Earnings, Revenue Growth Accelerated Last Quarter
Both earnings and sales growth rose for the aerospace company last quarter. RTX posted 16% earnings growth, up from 9%, to $1.45 per share. It reported a 49% leap in revenue, up from 8%, to $20.1 billion. The next quarterly results are expected on or around Jan. 28. Analyst consensus, measured by FactSet, is for sales and profit gains but smaller than its results last quarter.
RTX earns the No. 18 rank among its peers in the Aerospace/Defense industry group. Howmet Aerospace, Embraer and M-tron Industries are among the top five highly rated stocks in the group.
IBD's proprietary Relative Strength Rating measures market leadership with a 1 (worst) to 99 (best) score. The score shows how a stock's price behavior over the trailing 52 weeks holds up against all the other stocks in our database.
Please follow James DeTar on Twitter @JimDeTar
RELATED:
Defense And Aerospace Stocks To Watch And Industry News
Which Stocks Are Showing Rising Relative Strength?
IBD Live: A Great Tool For Daily Stock Market Analysis
How Relative Strength Line Can Help You Judge A Stock
MarketSurge: Research, Charts, Data And Coaching All In One Place
