RTX Corp. RTX is scheduled to release fourth-quarter 2024 results on Jan. 28, 2025, before market open.

Stay up-to-date with all quarterly releases: See Zacks Earnings Calendar.

The company delivered an average earnings surprise of 7.62% for the trailing four quarters. Improving commercial air traffic and a solid development volume for the F135 core upgrade program are likely to benefit RTX’s quarterly results.

RTX’s Growing Commercial Sales: A Key Growth Catalyst

Steadily increasing domestic and international air traffic, leading to a rise in flight hours, has been significantly boosting commercial jet’s aftermarket demand. This trend is likely to have bolstered RTX’s commercial aftermarket sales in the fourth quarter, driven primarily by higher volumes across all its aftermarket sales channels.

On the other hand, an increased demand for wide-body, narrow-body and business jets, buoyed by rising commercial air passenger travel rates, is likely to have boosted deliveries of jet engines from RTX’s Pratt & Whitney unit. This, in turn, is likely to have been aiding commercial original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sales for RTX.

Such impressive sales growth expectations from commercial OEM and aftermarket businesses are likely to have cumulatively boosted the top-line projections for both the Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace segments.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Pratt & Whitney’s fourth-quarter adjusted revenues is pegged at $6,924.7 million, indicating an improvement of 7.5% from the year-ago quarter’s figure.

The consensus estimate for Collins Aerospace’s adjusted revenues is pinned at $7,404.3 million, indicating a 5.7% increase from the prior-year quarter’s level.

Solid Outlook for RTX’s Military Sales

Growing global defense budgets have led RTX to witness solid order growth in the recent past. This, along with high sustainment volume for multiple platforms, as well as development volume from the F-135 engine core upgrade program, can be expected to have bolstered RTX’s revenues from its military business during the fourth quarter.

Other Factors to Note

Strong sales performance from the majority of RTX’s businesses, as mentioned above, is likely to have boosted overall revenues.

Factors like solid sales expectations, profit from higher commercial aftermarket at Pratt & Whitney as well as Collins Aerospace, higher defense volume and RTX’s consistent cost reduction initiatives are expected to have bolstered earnings.

RTX’s Q4 Expectations

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter revenues is pegged at $20.56 billion, which indicates year-over-year growth of 3.2%.

The consensus estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.37 per share, which indicates year-over-year growth of 6.2%.

What the Zacks Model Unveils

Our proven model conclusively predicts an earnings beat for RTX this time. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is the case here, as you will see below.

Earnings ESP: RTX has an Earnings ESP of +1.38%. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: RTX currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Other Stocks to Consider

Below we have mentioned the following players from the same sector that also have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in the upcoming releases.

Leidos Holdings, Inc. LDOS is set to report fourth-quarter 2024 earnings on Feb. 11, 2025, before market open. It has an Earnings ESP of +12.08% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LDOS’ earnings is pegged at $2.18 per share. The consensus estimate for its sales is pegged at $4.12 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 3.6%.

Northrop Grumman Corporation NOC is set to report its fourth-quarter 2024 results on Jan. 30, before market open. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.36% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NOC’s earnings is pegged at $6.26 per share. The consensus estimate for its sales is pegged at $11.02 billion, indicating year-over-year growth of 3.6%.

CurtissWright CW is set to report its fourth-quarter results on Feb. 12, after market close. It has an Earnings ESP of +1.29% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CW’s earnings is pegged at $3.08 per share. The consensus estimate for its sales is pegged at $785.5 million.

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