One of the top stocks on my watchlist this year has been defense company RTX Corporation (RTX), formerly known as Raytheon Technologies Corporation.

Raytheon is the world’s largest defense and aerospace company, with products like the Patriot Missile System.

How big are they? Well, their backlog alone is over $190 billion.

Unfortunately, the defense business has seen plenty of buyers with conflicts in the Middle East and Russia/Ukraine still going on in 2024. So with those conflicts depleting stockpiles, RTX’s backlog is likely to keep growing.

Because of this, I’ve placed multiple trades on RTX in Catalyst Cash-Outs and The War Room.

I first got positioned in Catalyst Cash-Outs in early November, shortly after the company announced an increased share buyback of $10 billion.

Buybacks tend to boost share prices in the short-term as they reduce the supply of outstanding shares and the buying itself bids the share higher in the market.

But while RTX had plenty of upside, the company also had some issues to start 2024.

Early in March, it occurred extra costs due to quality and reliability issues with its GTF engines. That caused some volatility in the stock.

Despite the negative news, RTX recovered some of their losses and said they did not expect any major revisions and the repairs were moving along as planned.

As you’ll see in the chart below, the company gained momentum soon after recovering and eventually popped this week.

The big move came after the company reported earnings on Thursday, surpassing net sales expectations by 2.2% and raising its 2024 guidance. After that I knew it was a good day to exit, so I closed a 74% winner in The War Room in 129 days. I also closed a 39.91% winner on RTX in Catalyst Cash-Outs in 266 days.

As we enter the second half of 2024, there are still plenty of buying catalysts for the defense company going forward.

On Wednesday, Pratt & Whitney (an RTX business) announced more than 950 GTF engine orders since the beginning of 2024, so its backlog is still moving up.

Plus, RTX will also likely benefit from more defense spending that could pick up under either administration after the 2024 Election.

Action Plan: Overall, Raytheon Technologies (RTX) still has a growing backlog plus an upcoming election which could lead to more defense spending. These potential catalysts will keep it on my watchlist going forward.

Click here to start following along with trades like RTX in Catalyst Cash-Outs today.