By Connor Hart

Northrop Grumman, RTX, and L3Harris Technologies are set to report earnings this week, providing investors with operational insights as President Trump calls on the country's largest defense contractors to speed up weapons production.

The context

The Pentagon, alarmed at the low weapons stockpiles the U.S. would have to have on hand for a potential future conflict with China, has spent most of the past year urging weapons makers to dramatically increase missile production rates, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Pentagon leaders have also shaken up the way the U.S. military buys weaponry, equipment and software by making purchases more quickly, and from a broader range of potential suppliers. The move aims to streamline Pentagon program offices, develop incentives for new investments and potentially box out suppliers that miss deadlines, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said.

Under these initiatives, the Pentagon has said it would invest $1 billion in L3Harris Technologies' missile business to turbocharge production of weapons. And Lockheed Martin struck a deal to more than triple production of Patriot interceptors to about 2,000 missiles a year, agreeing to pay to expand its Patriot missile factory in return for Pentagon orders over a seven-year period.

The numbers

Northrop Grumman is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings before the market opens Tuesday. The company is expected to post adjusted earnings of $6.98 a share on revenue of $11.62 billion, according to analysts polled by FactSet. That compares with adjusted earnings of $6.39 a share on revenue of $10.69 billion a year ago.

Northrop's backlog stood at $91.4 billion as of the end of the third quarter.

RTX, also scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings ahead of Tuesday's opening bell, is projected to notch adjusted earnings of $1.47 a share on revenue of $22.7 billion. That compares with adjusted earnings of $1.54 a share on revenue of $21.62 billion last year.

During third-quarter earnings, RTX reported a backlog of $251 billion.

L3Harris Technologies is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results before the market opens Thursday. Wall Street is modeling adjusted earnings of $2.76 a share on revenue of $5.77 billion, compared with adjusted earnings of $3.47 a share on revenue of $5.52 billion a year earlier.

L3Harris Chief Executive Chris Kubasik said on a call with analysts last quarter that the company had doubled its backlog in the past 12 months. "The outlook is very positive," he said.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 26, 2026 12:35 ET (17:35 GMT)

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