MW This shipbuilder's stock is soaring to a fresh record as company wins contract to produce a new type of Navy frigate

By Victor Reklaitis

President Trump is scheduled to talk about shipbuilding at around 4:30 p.m. Eastern time today

President Donald Trump, shown here during a visit to Virginia's Naval Station Norfolk for a celebration of the Navy's 250th birthday on Oct. 5, is scheduled to speak Monday about shipbuilding.

Shares in military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries were up sharply Monday, building on Friday's surge that came after the U.S. Navy announced it had selected the company to design and build a new class of small warship.

HII's stock $(HII)$ recently was gaining about 4% and on course to end at a new closing high around $350. It's up around 86% in the year to date.

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said in a news release Friday that his branch of the military will be acquiring a "new frigate class based on HII's Legend-Class National Security Cutter design," adding that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have signed off on the new FF$(X)$ "small surface combatant" ship as part of their effort to build what officials are calling a "Golden Fleet."

HII CEO Chris Kastner said Friday that he and his colleagues "look forward to supporting the Navy on this critical program" and that he has "great confidence" in his company's Ingalls Shipbuilding division "to execute this program." HII and the Navy didn't give a dollar amount for the contract.

Trump is scheduled to make an announcement at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time today in Palm Beach, Fla., together with Hegseth and Phelan. It will be a shipbuilding announcement, a White House official told MarketWatch.

On March 5, HII's stock scored its biggest one-day percentage gain ever as Trump announced efforts to boost domestic shipbuilders.

-Victor Reklaitis

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December 22, 2025 12:10 ET (17:10 GMT)

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