Raytheon Technologies (RTX) Risk Factors

We must comply with various laws and regulations relating to the export and import of products, services, and technology from and into the U.S. and other countries having jurisdiction over our operations. In the U.S., these laws and regulations include, among others, the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) administered by the U.S. Department of State, embargoes and sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and import regulations administered by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Justice. Certain of our products, services, and technologies have military or strategic applications and are on the U.S. Munitions List of the ITAR, the Commerce Control List of the EAR, or are otherwise subject to the EAR and/or the U.S. Munitions Import List, and we are required to obtain licenses and authorizations from the appropriate U.S. government agencies before exporting these products out of the U.S. or importing these products into the U.S. U.S. foreign policy or the foreign policy of other licensing jurisdictions may affect the licensing process or otherwise prevent us from engaging in business dealings with certain individuals, entities, or countries. Any failure by us, our customers, or our suppliers to comply with these laws and regulations could result in civil or criminal penalties, fines, seizure of our products, adverse publicity, restrictions on our ability to engage in export or import transactions, or the suspension or debarment from doing business with the U.S. government. Moreover, any changes in export control, sanctions, or import regulations may further restrict the export or import of our products or services, and the possibility of such changes requires constant monitoring to ensure we remain compliant. Our ability to obtain required licenses and authorizations on a timely basis, or at all, is subject to risks and uncertainties, including changing laws, regulations, or foreign policies, delays in Congressional action, or geopolitical and other factors. If we are not successful in obtaining or maintaining the necessary licenses or authorizations in a timely manner, our sales relating to those approvals may be prevented or delayed, and revenue and profit previously recognized may be reversed. Any restrictions on the export or import of our products or product lines could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity.

We are subject to U.S. government investigations relating to our U.S. government contracts. Such U.S. government investigations often take years to complete and could result in administrative, civil, or criminal liabilities, including repayments, fines, treble and other damages, forfeitures, restitution, or penalties, or could lead to suspension or debarment of U.S. government contracting or of export privileges. For instance, if we or one of our business units were charged with wrongdoing in connection with a U.S. government investigation (including fraud, or violation of certain environmental, FCPA, and other anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws, or export laws, as further described below), the U.S. government could suspend us from bidding on or receiving awards of new U.S. government contracts pending the completion of legal proceedings. If convicted or found liable, the U.S. government could fine and debar us from new U.S. government contracting for a period generally not to exceed three years, and could void any contracts found to be tainted by fraud. We also could suffer reputational harm if allegations of impropriety were made against us, even if such allegations are later determined to be unsubstantiated. Further, our U.S. government contracts are subject to audit and we have received audit reports recommending the reduction of certain contract prices because, for example, cost or pricing data disclosures or cost accounting practices used to price and negotiate those contracts may not have conformed to government regulations. Some of these audit reports recommend that certain payments be repaid, delayed, or withheld, and may involve substantial amounts, which could, if the audit reports' theories were to prevail in litigation, also have future impacts such as increasing the costs absorbed by our commercial businesses. We have made voluntary refunds in those cases we believe appropriate, have settled some allegations, and, in some cases, continue to negotiate and/or litigate. We may be, and have been, required to make significant payments into escrow of disputed liabilities while the related litigation is pending. If the litigation is resolved in our favor, any such payments will be returned to us with interest. The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) and the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) also review the adequacy of, and our compliance with, our internal control systems and policies, including our accounting, purchasing, government property, estimating, earned value management, and material management accounting systems. Our final allowable incurred costs for each year are subject to audit and have from time to time resulted in disputes between us and the U.S. government, including DCMA claims to recover payments for alleged noncompliance with cost accounting standards. In some cases, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has conducted investigations or convened grand juries to investigate possible irregularities in our costs. Any costs found to be improperly allocated to a specific contract will not be reimbursed by the U.S. government or must be refunded by us to the U.S. government if already reimbursed. An adverse outcome of any audit or investigation could result in civil and criminal penalties and fines, which could negatively impact our results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity. In addition, if allegations of impropriety were made against us, we could suffer serious reputational harm, which could negatively affect our financial position, results of operations, and liquidity.

Our business may be impacted by disruptions to our own or third-party information technology (IT) infrastructure, which could result from, among other causes, cyberattacks on or failures of such infrastructure or compromises to its physical security. The products and services that we provide our customers are also at risk of being adversely affected by cyber-attacks, including attempts to infiltrate them or sabotage or disable their use. Like other companies, we regularly experience cyber-based attacks. Cybersecurity threats are continuously evolving and include, but are not limited to, both attacks on our IT infrastructure and attacks on the IT infrastructure of our customers, suppliers, subcontractors and other third parties with whom we do business routinely, both on premises and in the cloud, attempting to gain unauthorized access to our confidential, proprietary, or otherwise protected information, classified information, or information relating to our employees, customers and other third parties, or to disrupt our systems or the systems of third parties. Cybersecurity threats also include attacks targeting the security, confidentiality, integrity and/or availability of the hardware, software and information installed, stored or transmitted in our products, including after the purchase of those products and when they are incorporated into third-party products, facilities or infrastructure. We are also exposed to the risk of insider threat attacks. Any such attacks could disrupt our systems or those of third parties (including mission critical systems), impact business operations, result in unauthorized release of confidential, proprietary, or otherwise protected information, and corrupt our data or that of third parties. The threats we face are continuous and evolving, and vary in degree of severity and sophistication. These threats include advanced persistent threats from highly organized adversaries, including but not limited to cyber criminals, nation states and so-called hacktivists, particularly those adverse to the security interests of the U.S. and its allies, which target us and other defense contractors. These types of threats are related to the geopolitical environment and have, therefore, grown in number due to recent geopolitical conflicts. In addition, as a result of the rapid pace of technological change, we and our customers, suppliers, subcontractors and other third parties with whom we conduct business continue to rely on legacy systems and software, which can be more vulnerable to cyber threats and attacks. Moreover, we, like other companies, are seeing an unprecedented number of previously unknown vulnerabilities, for which there are no known mitigations, being revealed by new attacks. Further, the sophistication, availability and use of artificial intelligence by threat actors present an increased level of risk. Due to the evolving threat landscape, we have experienced and expect to continue to experience more frequent and increasingly advanced cyber-attacks. In addition, changes in domestic and international cybersecurity-related laws and regulations have expanded cybersecurity-related compliance requirements, and cybersecurity regulatory enforcement activity has grown. We expect the regulatory environment to continue to evolve, and staying apace with these regulatory changes could increase our operational and compliance expenditures and those of our suppliers, and lead to new or additional information technology and product development expenses. We also face reputational, litigation and financial risks in relation to potential required disclosures and increased risk of enforcement. We continue to make investments and adopt measures designed to enhance our protection, detection, response, and recovery capabilities, and to mitigate potential risks to our technology, products, services and operations from potential cybersecurity threats, as well as to comply with evolving regulations. However, given the unpredictability, nature and scope of cyber-attacks, it is possible that we are unable to defend against all cyber-attacks, that potential vulnerabilities could go undetected and persist in the environment for an extended period, or that we may otherwise be unable to mitigate customer losses and other potential consequences of these attacks. In addition, some products and services that we provide to customers, particularly those related to public security, may raise potential liabilities related to privacy and intellectual property. In some cases, we must rely on the safeguards put in place by our customers, suppliers, subcontractors and other third parties to protect against and report cyber threats and attacks. We could potentially be subject to production downtimes, operational delays, other detrimental impacts on our operations or ability to provide products and services to our customers, the compromise of confidential information, intellectual property or otherwise protected information, misappropriation, destruction or corruption of data, security breaches, other manipulation or improper use of our or third-party systems, networks or products, financial losses from remedial actions, loss of business, or potential liability, penalties, fines and/or damage to our reputation. Any of these could have a material adverse effect on our competitive position, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity. Due to the evolving nature of such risks, the impact of any potential incident cannot be predicted. Further, our insurance coverage, which may exclude losses from war or cyber operations, may not be adequate to cover all related costs and we may not otherwise be fully indemnified for them.

The termination of one or more of our U.S. government contracts, or the occurrence of performance delays, cost overruns (due to inflation or otherwise), product failures, shortages in materials, components, or labor, contract definitization delays, or other failures to perform to customer expectations and contract requirements, could negatively impact our reputation and competitive position, results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity. U.S. government contracts generally permit the government to terminate the contract, in whole or in part, without prior notice, at the U.S. government's convenience or for default based on performance. If one of our contracts is terminated for convenience, we would generally be entitled to payments for our allowable costs incurred, termination costs, and would receive some allowance for profit on the work performed. If one of our contracts is terminated for default, we would generally be entitled to payments for work accepted by the U.S. government. A termination arising out of our default could expose us to liability and have a negative impact on our ability to obtain future contracts and orders. In addition, we are a subcontractor on some programs, and the U.S. government could terminate the prime contract for convenience or otherwise, without regard to our performance as a subcontractor. We may not be able to offset lost revenues resulting from contract termination. Moreover, because the funding of U.S. government programs is subject to congressional appropriations made on a fiscal year basis even for multi-year programs, programs are often only partially funded initially and may not continue to be funded in future years. Appropriation bills may be delayed, which may result in delays to funding, the collection of receivables, and our contract performance due to lack of authorized funds to procure related products and services. The timing of contract definitization can be affected by factors specific to the U.S. government, including staffing limitations. Under certain circumstances, we may use our own funds to meet our customer's desired delivery dates or other requirements, but we may not be reimbursed. Further, if appropriations for one of our programs become unavailable, reduced, or delayed, the U.S. government may terminate for convenience our contract or subcontract under that program. In addition, our U.S. government contracts typically involve the development, application, and manufacture of advanced defense and technology systems and products aimed at achieving challenging goals. As a result of untested or unproven technologies, or modified requirements or specifications, we may experience technological and other performance difficulties (including delays, setbacks, cost overruns, or product failures), our attention or resources may be diverted from other projects, and our future sales opportunities may be impacted. Additionally, as our customers demand more mature and proven solutions, we may be required to invest in development prior to contract award with no guarantee of award. Our U.S. government contracts are typically either fixed-priced contracts or cost reimbursement contracts. Fixed-price contracts are predominantly either firm fixed-price (FFP) contracts or fixed-price incentive (FPI) contracts. Under FFP contracts, we receive a fixed price irrespective of the actual costs we incur, and we therefore carry the burden of any cost overruns. Under FPI contracts, we generally share with the U.S. government savings for cost underruns less than target costs and expenses for cost overruns exceeding target costs up to a negotiated ceiling price. We carry the entire burden of cost overruns exceeding the ceiling price amount under FPI contracts, which may result in a cumulative adjustment in the period our estimates change. Under cost reimbursable contracts, we are reimbursed for allowable costs and are typically paid a fixed or performance-based fee, but we are generally not reimbursed for unauthorized costs exceeding a cost ceiling amount or costs not allowable under the contract or applicable regulations. Excess costs on cost reimbursable contracts could also result in lower profit rates. We may incur unexpected costs for various reasons, including technical and manufacturing challenges, schedule delays, shortages in materials, components, or labor, internal and subcontractor performance, product quality issues, inability to achieve the benefits of our cost reduction, digital transformation, manufacturing, operating, and other strategic initiatives, inflation, and changing laws or regulations, natural disasters, and public health crises. If we are unable to control costs or if our initial cost estimates are incorrect, our profitability could be negatively affected, particularly under fixed-price development contracts. We may also experience cost underruns which would reduce contract value and related expected revenues, and we may be unable to expand the contract scope or secure additional work to offset the resulting lost revenues. While contracts for development programs with complex design and technical challenges are often cost reimbursable, they can be FFP or FPI, which can significantly increase our risk of a potential negative profit adjustment, as development contracts by nature involve elements that have not been undertaken before and, thus, are highly subject to future unexpected cost growth. In addition, other contracts in backlog are for the transition from development to production, which includes starting and stabilizing a manufacturing and test line while the final design is still being validated. Moreover, over the past several years, the DoD has increased its use of Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements, under which it awards certain prototypes, research, and production contracts without all of the procurement requirements that typically apply to DoD contracts, including justification of sole source awards. OTAs may use fixed-price contracting during all phases of the contract, or mandated contract cost sharing. They may also require non-traditional subcontractor participation and impose other requirements that differ from our other DoD contracts. Our business may be negatively impacted if we are unable to bid for OTA work and/or perform on our OTA agreements, including any applicable non-traditional requirements. In addition, in order to support U.S. government priorities, we may begin performance prior to completing contract negotiations for an undefinitized contract action with a not-to-exceed price. Uncertainties in final contract price, specifications and terms, or loss of negotiating leverage associated with particularly long delays in contract definitization may negatively affect our profitability. Our U.S. government contracts also require us to comply with extensive and evolving procurement rules and regulations and subject us to potential U.S. government surveillance, audits, investigations,and disputes. We are also involved in programs that are classified by the U.S. government, which have security requirements that place limits on our ability to discuss our performance on these programs, including any risks, disputes, and claims.

Our business, operating results, financial condition, and liquidity may be adversely affected by changes in global economic conditions, international relations, and geopolitical events and actions, including inflation, credit market conditions, levels of consumer and business confidence, commodity (including energy) prices and supply, trade policies, exchange rates, changing policy positions or priorities, levels of government spending and deficits, the threat environment, political conditions, and actual or anticipated default on sovereign debt. The current global supply chain challenges and inflationary pressures have negatively affected, and we expect will continue to negatively affect, our performance as well as the performance of our suppliers and subcontractors. High inflation levels have increased material and component prices, labor rates, and supplier costs. In addition, due to the nature of our government and commercial aerospace businesses, and their respective customer and supplier contracts, we may be unable to increase our contract value or pricing to offset cost increases, in particular on our fixed price contracts. Our operating profits and margins under our contracts could be adversely affected by these factors. Similarly, interest rate increases have created financial market volatility and could further negatively impact financial markets, lead to an economic downturn or recession, and tighten the availability of, and increase the cost of, capital for the Company, which could have an adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition, and liquidity. Tightening of credit in financial markets also could adversely affect the ability of our customers and suppliers to obtain financing for significant purchases and operations, could result in a decrease in, or cancellation of, orders for our products and services, could impact the ability of our customers to make payments, and could increase the risk of supplier financial distress. Our global business is also adversely affected by decreases in the general level of economic activity, such as decreases in business and consumer spending, air travel, the financial strength of airlines and business jet operators, and government procurement. In addition, geopolitical risks could affect government priorities, budgets, and policies, such as U.S. approvals of our foreign defense sales as well as sanctions and other trade-restrictive activities, which could impact sales of defense and other products and services.