LOAR vs RTX: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: RTX is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. LOAR and RTX share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined LOAR and RTX exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Loar Holdings is a diversified manufacturer of niche aerospace and defense components, supplying parts and systems that go onto commercial and military aircraft, helicopters, and other platforms. The company designs and produces a wide range of highly engineered, often proprietary products, including specialized seals, gaskets, fluid controls, actuation and motion systems, sensors, switches, instruments, and other flight-critical and cabin components. Loar grows through a combination of organic development and acquisitions, rolling up small, specialized aerospace suppliers and integrating them under a decentralized operating model. A defining feature of its business is high aftermarket exposure: a large share of revenue comes from selling spare parts and replacement components for the existing global fleet, which generates recurring, higher-margin sales over the multi-decade life of an aircraft. Because many of its parts are sole-source or hold proprietary designs and are certified onto specific platforms, Loar enjoys strong pricing power and switching costs. It went public in 2024 and is positioned as a fast-growing, acquisitive aerospace components specialist. Headquartered in White Plains, New York. Revenue reached ~$586 million over the trailing twelve months to June 2026, up from ~$496 million for full-year 2025, with roughly 1,700 employees.

Full LOAR guide

RTX Corporation (RTX), formerly Raytheon Technologies, is one of the world's largest aerospace and defense companies. It operates three businesses. Collins Aerospace supplies avionics, interiors, actuation, and other systems for commercial and military aircraft. Pratt & Whitney designs and manufactures jet engines for airliners (including the geared turbofan) and military aircraft, and earns substantial recurring revenue from servicing its large installed engine base. Raytheon, the defense segment, builds missiles, missile defense systems (including Patriot), radars, and other advanced defense electronics for the US military and allied governments.

Full RTX guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• LOAR drivers: High-margin aftermarket exposure; Proprietary, sole-source content.
• RTX drivers: Commercial aftermarket; Defense backlog and missiles.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Loar is a relatively new public company with a high valuation that embeds aggressive growth expectations: ~87x trailing earnings in October 2026, after a ~23% one-year decline that already shows how quickly the multiple can compress. For RTX, rTX faces program-execution risks, most visibly the Pratt & Whitney geared-turbofan powder-metal inspection issue that forced costly engine removals and weighed on cash.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick LOAR if you believe its drivers more; RTX if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the LOAR and RTX guides.

LOAR. At about $62 on October 16, 2026, Loar trades at ~87x trailing and ~38x forward earnings, ~10x sales and ~31x EV/EBITDA, still a premium to most industrials even after the shares fell ~23% over a year. The gap between the trailing and forward multiples is the bet: analysts expect EPS to more than double from $0.71 TTM to ~$1.61 in 2027. The five covering analysts' mean target is ~$88, though Morgan Stanley cut its target to $72 on the day of this update.

RTX. RTX trades as a large, dividend-paying aerospace and defense blue chip, now at about 34 times trailing and 24 times forward earnings after a 22% one-year gain. The premium rests on double-digit revenue growth, four straight quarterly EPS beats and about $9.9 billion of trailing free cash flow, weighed against program-execution risk like the geared-turbofan issue. Q3 2026 results on October 20 (consensus EPS about $1.78 on about $24.1 billion of revenue) are the next check.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): LOAR shows revenue (ttm) ~$586 million, revenue growth (latest quarter, yoy) ~39%, gross / operating margin ~53% / ~26%, net income (ttm) ~$68 million (~11.6% net margin); RTX shows revenue (ttm) ~$93.5 billion, revenue growth (q2 2026, yoy) ~14.5%, operating margin ~12.7%, net income (ttm) ~$7.7 billion.

LOAR and RTX are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined LOAR and RTX exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.