RTX Q3 2026 earnings: profit and sales beat as backlog hits record $340B
RTX topped profit and sales forecasts in fiscal Q3 2026, powered by strong jet-parts demand and a tariff-cost recovery, and raised its full-year outlook for a third time.
| Q3 2026 | Reported | Expected | Surprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | $2.26 | $1.79 | +26.0% |
| Revenue | $24.96B | $24.32B | +2.6% |
Key takeaways
- RTX beat Wall Street’s targets for both profit and sales. Adjusted earnings per share of $2.26 topped the roughly $1.79 analysts expected, and revenue of about $25.0 billion also came in above the roughly $24.3 billion forecast.
- Sales grew around 11-12% from a year ago, with the strongest push coming from Collins Aerospace, the unit that makes parts and systems for commercial jets. New-aircraft-equipment sales there jumped 23% and repair/maintenance (aftermarket) work rose 9%, reflecting continued strong air-travel demand.
- About a quarter of the per-share profit increase came from a one-time item: RTX recovered costs tied to tariffs that U.S. courts later found were imposed unlawfully. That recovery flattered this quarter’s results and isn’t a repeatable source of growth.
- RTX raised its full-year 2026 forecast for the third time this year, lifting expected adjusted profit, sales and cash generation, a sign management is more confident heading into year-end than it was over the summer.
- The company’s order backlog - work it’s already been promised but hasn’t yet delivered - hit a record of roughly $340 billion, up about 36% from a year earlier, pointing to sustained demand from airlines and defense customers for years to come.
- Profitability improved from a year ago: RTX is keeping more of each sales dollar as profit than it did previously, helped by higher production volumes, cost discipline and the tariff-cost recovery, though margins remain modest for the industry given RTX’s mix of long-term, fixed-price defense contracts.
- RTX generated $2.1 billion in free cash flow during the quarter after $0.7 billion in capital spending, cash that funds dividends, buybacks and the investment needed to work through its large backlog.
- CEO Chris Calio said the company is “once again raising our full year outlook,” framing the results as evidence of broad-based momentum across RTX’s commercial aerospace and defense businesses rather than a one-off quarter.
How the stock took it
RTX Corp closed at $192.11 on Oct 19, 2026, the last session before the report, and at $191.60 on Oct 21, 2026, the first session after it — -0.3% across the report.
Closes from the market's daily record. Each figure spans the report date — from the last session that closed before it to the first that closed after — because a company may report before the open or after the close.
Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 20.4% | Trailing 12 months |
| Operating margin | 11.2% | Trailing 12 months |
| Net profit margin | 8.3% | Trailing 12 months |
| Pretax margin | 10.7% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS | $5.68 | Trailing 12 months |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 11.8% | Trailing 12 months |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 24.8% | Trailing 12 months |
| Return on equity | 11.8% | Trailing 12 months |
Sources: company report · earnings release · Investing.com · company fundamentals · earnings call