By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) stock (NYSE:RTX) rose more than 3% Tuesday as the defense and aerospace contractor revised its outlook again.
The improved forecast came after the company reported strong earnings in the second quarter, driven by recovery in the commercial air traffic market that resulted in higher fleet hours, better fleet utilization and more deliveries.
The company now sees sales between $64.4 billion-$65.4 billion and adjusted earnings per share in the range of $3.85-$4. It also sees higher free cash flows of $4.5 billion to $5 billion.
The company also projects more savings from the merger of Raytheon with the erstwhile United Technologies. It now aims to save $1.5 billion from synergies derived out of the merger, $200 million more from the previous estimate.
The company behind Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines ended the quarter with a higher order backlog in both its key verticals. Outstanding orders came at $151.8 billion, of which $85.7 billion was from commercial aerospace and $66.1 billion was from defense.
Sales rose 12% to $15.88 billion and adjusted EPS rose more than two-and-a-half-times to $1.03 from 39 cents earlier.