MW Trump's 'Golden Dome' may be a boon to these companies

By Claudia Assis

$175 billion missile-defense shield is part of Trump's 'big, beautiful' tax bill, which has yet to pass

President Donald Trump's unveiling of a $175 billion plan to build a massive missile-defense system, a project viewed as ambitious in both its timeline and budget, boosted defense stocks on Wednesday.

Trump said he wants the "Golden Dome" to be operational by the end of his term in three and a half years. The price tag - partially funded in the administration's "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill, which has yet to pass - was higher than Wall Street expectations.

Ken Herbert at RBC Securities said he expects the Golden Dome to include a layer of space-based interceptors as well as radars and early warning and tracking satellites.

Defense stocks with the highest space exposure are Karman Holdings Inc. $(KRMN)$, L3Harris Technologies Inc. (LHX) and Northrop Grumman Corp. $(NOC)$, he said.

Of these, L3Harris is likely to benefit the most from Golden Dome, Herbert said.

The Melbourne, Fla., tech company and defense contractor recently made a $125 million investment to expand its factory in Fort Wayne, Ind., as it was already eyeing Golden Dome opportunities.

RTX Corp. $(RTX)$, formerly Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin Corp. $(LMT)$ are also "well-positioned to take share given their integrated and strategic missile defense systems," Herbert said.

Privately held aerospace company and "defense disruptor" SpaceX and defense-tech startup Anduril Industries also would get a boost.

SpaceX is led by Elon Musk, who steered government-spending cuts at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency as a Trump superdonor and enthusiastic supporter. Musk, who is also the chief executive of Tesla Inc. $(TSLA)$, said Tuesday he plans to slow down his political spending and spend more time leading the electric-vehicle maker.

See also: Here's why Tesla investors care so much that Elon Musk stops his Trump-leaning political donations

Previous funding levels and investor expectations were for about $5 billion a year, building up toward about $20 billion, Herbert said.

"The Golden Dome timeline is also seeing a pull forward in prioritization, as we believe most thought the program might not see significant funding for a few years," he said. To be done in three years "suggests a significant pull forward."

The pending tax bill includes about $25 billion allocated to air and missile defense, and presumed step-ups in Golden Dome funding would come in the 2026 to 2028 budgets.

Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a recent podcast he also believed the shield would be "heavy on space."

It's "not just going to be about the rogue state ballistic missiles anymore. It has to be, and rightly should be, about that full spectrum, to include air and cruise missile defense," Karako said in the podcast.

-Claudia Assis

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 21, 2025 14:28 ET (18:28 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.