On Monday, President Donald Trump discussed shipbuilding while visiting Virginia’s Naval Station Norfolk to commemorate the Navy’s 250th anniversary on October 5.
Huntington Ingalls Industries’ stock rose substantially on Monday, continuing Friday’s spike after the U.S. Navy said it had chosen the company to design and construct a new generation of small warships.
The improvements on Monday coincided with President Donald Trump’s announcement that he had approved a proposal for the U.S. Navy to build new “Trump-class” warships that would be the flagships of the country’s naval fleet.
Trump chastised the top defense contractors on Monday for their “too slow” production. He promised to review production schedules with those contractors when they met in Florida the following week.
Monday saw a 5% increase in HII’s shares (HII), with a new closing high above $350. So far this year, it has increased by almost 87%. After hours, shares were up 3.3%.
As part of their efforts to create what officials are referring to as a “Golden Fleet,” Secretary of the Navy John Phelan announced in a news release Friday that his branch of the military will be acquiring a “new frigate class based on HII’s Legend-Class National Security Cutter design.” He also noted that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have approved the new FF(X) “small surface combatant” ship.
Chris Kastner, the CEO of HII, stated on Friday that he and his team “look forward to supporting the Navy on this critical program” and that he has “great confidence” in the Ingalls Shipbuilding branch of his company “to execute this program.” The Navy and HII did not provide a monetary sum for the contract.
When Trump announced plans to support American shipbuilders on March 5, HII’s shares had its largest one-day percentage gain ever.
Along with Hegseth, Phelan, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump announced on Monday afternoon in Palm Beach, Florida, that the two new, large ships—which he referred to as “battleships”—would be more potent than their predecessors and that the military would also be upgrading aircraft carriers.
Trump claimed that although the United States’ more recent battleships were frequently smaller in previous years, they were “not conducive to where we are and where we’re going – peace through strength.” The new ships, he stated, will weigh between 30,000 and 40,000 tons and might be outfitted with laser technology, electric rail guns, hypersonic weapons, and nuclear cruise missiles. He went on to say that the ships would be built of steel instead of aluminum, that they would help restore the country’s shipbuilding capabilities, and that they would create jobs.
Along with himself, “because I’m a very aesthetic person,” and other business partners, Trump stated that the Navy would take the lead in designing the ships. Trump has already expressed disapproval of the way the country’s fleet of warships looks.
Along with encouraging them to construct new plants, he stated that he would also be talking with defense contractors about spending plans, executive remuneration, and investor rewards.
“We make the greatest equipment in the world by far,” Trump stated. “Nobody’s even close, but they don’t produce them fast enough.”
In after-hours trading, shares of some defense companies, such as General Dynamics Corp. (GD), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), and Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT), were quiet.
According to a Wall Street Journal article published on Monday, the new class of tiny warships that was unveiled on Friday was distinct from the new fleet of huge warships. According to the article, which cited unnamed sources, the Navy will hold a competition to select a bidder to construct the new huge ships. The “battleship” would be an improvement over the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, according to the Journal.
