Lockheed Martin The Latest Victim Of A Trump Tweet

Defense sector investors that cheered Donald Trump’s victory on Election Day are feeling a bit more uncomfortable these days.

After blasting Boeing Co BA last week for the costs associated with its Air Force One contract, Trump called out Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT on Monday morning for its F-35 program.

“The F-35 program and cost is out of control. Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th,” Trump tweeted. Lockheed Martin’s stock tumbled 4.2 percent in early Monday trading.

This is certainly not the first time Trump has criticized the F-35 contract.

“When they are saying that this cannot perform as well as the planes we already have, what are [we] doing, and spending so much more money?” Trump said in a 2015 radio interview.

The F-35 contract is reportedly the largest weapons contract in U.S. history at a staggering $400 billion. Investors are understandably nervous about potential threats to the deal.

Last week, Trump called the costs associated with the Boeing Air Force One contract “out of control” and said he would “cancel” the deal.

Throughout the campaign season, Trump pledged to ramp-up defense spending in the next decade by eliminating a sequester on defense spending that would add $500 billion to the defense budget over the next decade.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Posted In:
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!