Defence Stocks Ranked by Return Since 2022

Rearmament after the invasion of Ukraine repriced European defence far more violently than American defence, and both far more than the wider market. The point of ranking them together with the index is that the interesting number is not what defence did, it is the distance between defence and everything else over the same window.

How this is ordered. Ordered by price return from the first available monthly close of 2022 to the most recent, best first, with the S&P 500 shown alongside as a benchmark.

1. 1

   RHM · Rheinmetall

   German ammunition and vehicles

   +1,905%

   Price return since 2022

   German ammunition and vehicles. Ten thousand dollars invested at the start of 2022 would be worth about $200,496 on price alone. Government procurement is slow to start and slow to stop, which is why this sector kept moving long after the headlines that triggered it had faded.

   $200,496 from $10,000 since January 2022
2. 2

   RTX · RTX (Raytheon)

   US prime contractor, missiles and engines

   +119%

   Price return since 2022

   US prime contractor, missiles and engines. Ten thousand dollars invested at the start of 2022 would be worth about $21,918 on price alone. Government procurement is slow to start and slow to stop, which is why this sector kept moving long after the headlines that triggered it had faded.

   $21,918 from $10,000 since January 2022
3. 3

   SPY · SPDR S&P 500 ETF

   SPDR S&P 500 ETF, shown for comparison

   +70%

   Price return since 2022

   The benchmark, included so the defence numbers mean something. Ten thousand dollars in the index over the same window became roughly $16,988, which is the figure every row above should be read against.

   $16,988 from $10,000 since January 2022
4. 4

   NOC · Northrop Grumman

   US prime contractor, aerospace and systems

   +40%

   Price return since 2022

   US prime contractor, aerospace and systems. Ten thousand dollars invested at the start of 2022 would be worth about $14,030 on price alone. Government procurement is slow to start and slow to stop, which is why this sector kept moving long after the headlines that triggered it had faded.

   $14,030 from $10,000 since January 2022
5. 5

   LMT · Lockheed Martin

   US prime contractor, aircraft and missiles

   +35%

   Price return since 2022

   US prime contractor, aircraft and missiles. Ten thousand dollars invested at the start of 2022 would be worth about $13,471 on price alone. Government procurement is slow to start and slow to stop, which is why this sector kept moving long after the headlines that triggered it had faded.

   $13,471 from $10,000 since January 2022

This describes a repricing that has already happened. Buying a sector after the news that repriced it is not the same as having held it beforehand, which is the actual lesson of the period.