Big defense contractors have a clear message for President Donald Trump and Congress: We are investing significantly more in our domestic production, but keep your hands off our dividends.
In half a dozen quarterly earnings calls this week, the primes made clear they would boost their efforts to bolster the domestic defense industrial base — and that they welcome Trump’s calls for a $1.5 trillion defense budget topline. But company CEOs pushed back on the president’s executive order aimed at curbing executive compensation and stock dividends.
