Israel-Iran Conflict: Which Defense Giant Delivered Best Gains — RTX, Lockheed, L3Harris Or Northrop?

Shares of Lockheed Martin (LMT), Raytheon Technologies (RTX), Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC), and L3harris Technologies (LHX) edged lower in premarket trading on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said that Iran and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire.

Since Israel’s first volley of drones and missiles hit Iranian nuclear facilities in the early hours of June 12, Lockheed stock has gained about 3.6%, and RTX, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris have gained 1.8%, 2.3% and 2.8%, respectively, till Monday.

Trump said the two countries have agreed to a "complete and total" deal on Monday, hours after thanking Tehran for prior information on its attack on the U.S. military base.

He said that Iran will initiate he ceasefire immediately, followed by Israel after 12 hours. If both countries maintain peace, the war will officially end after a day. However, reports from Israel suggested that the government had detected missile launches from Israel, which the Iranian army has denied.

Most defense stocks had risen early on Monday’s trading after the U.S. struck Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday, backing Israel’s actions against Tehran, which the two countries said were done to prevent the country from developing atomic weapons. The three sites, Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan, suffered severe damage.

According to reports, the U.S. used 125 U.S. aircraft, including fourth- and fifth-generation fighter jets from Boeing and Lockheed, as well as Northrop Grumman’s B-2 stealth bombers, which dropped 14 massive 30,000-pound GBU-57 bunker-busting bombs.

The Pentagon plans to spend about $1 trillion during the fiscal year. However, the U.S. military is focusing more on drones and other automated weapons, creating pressure on makers of fighter aircraft such as Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed is also among two companies positioning themselves to win a significant share of Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative, a proposed $175 billion U.S. project to create a satellite network to detect and possibly intercept incoming threats, according to Reuters.

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