Why Raytheon Technologies Rocketed Higher in April

Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX), the company formed via the merger between defense contractor Raytheon and the aerospace unit of United Technologies, officially began trading on April 3. The shares got off to a good start, rocketing 19.7% higher as the month went on, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

When United Technologies and Raytheon announced plans to merge in June 2019, the deal was greeted with howls from investors in both companies. United Technologies had built a large and profitable business largely serving the commercial aerospace sector and had benefited from a decade-long surge in new plane orders.

Raytheon, meanwhile, was a defense specialist with exposure to some of the areas deemed most critical to the Pentagon, including missiles, missile defense, and space. Investors, including in United Technologies' case some high-profile activists, balked at the idea of watering down the two pure-play business with exposure to the other side of aerospace.

Source Fool.com