RTX Earnings Top Wall Street Estimates, but the Stock Is Down. Blame Tariffs.

Coming into second-quarter earnings, shares of RTX were up about 31% year to date. (Nathan Laine/Bloomberg)

RTX reported solid second-quarter earnings. The stock fell, but the reaction is nothing like its steep post-earnings selloff in April. That’s a positive for investors.

Tuesday morning, RTX reported quarterly earnings per share of $1.56 from sales of $21.6 billion. Wall Street was looking for earnings per share of $1.44 from sales of $20.6 billion, according to FactSet. A year ago, in the second quarter of 2024, RTX reported EPS of $1.41 from sales of $19.8 billion.

“We continued our momentum in the second quarter with organic sales and profit growth across all three segments, including 16 percent commercial aftermarket growth,” said RTX CEO Chris Calio in a news release. “Our backlog grew to $236 billion, up 15 percent versus [the] prior year, and we secured major awards for our geared turbofan [jet] engines and integrated air and missile defense capabilities in the quarter.”

It looks like a solid report. Still, RTX stock slipped 1.6% to $149.17 on Tuesday, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1% and 0.4%, respectively.

Starting points help explain part of the stock reaction. Coming into Tuesday trading, RTX stock was up about 31% this year.

“Solid defense and [aerospace] aftermarket,” wrote Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu in a Tuesday report. “Some second-half weakness in [aerospace is likely tariff[s].”

Tariffs appeared to lead to a guidance cut, another reason the stock might be down early. Management now expects full-year earnings per share to land between $5.80 and $5.95. In April, RTX’s earnings guidance was a range of $6 to $6.15. That was the same range given in January.

The new outlook, however, incorporates cost headwinds from President Donald Trump’s tariffs. RTX shares dropped almost 10% after first-quarter earnings, despite Wall Street calling the quarter solid. Investors appeared to want more details on tariff costs. Then, management didn’t include any tariff headwinds in their guidance. Now, they have some indication of what tariffs will cost.

RTX guidance implies second-half earnings per share of about $2.85. Wall Street currently projects $3.02 according to FactSet. The 17-cent difference is one measure of tariff headwinds in the second half of 2025.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com