Trump tweets that the F-35's cost is 'out of control' — and now the stock of the company that makes it is diving (LMT)
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Another stock is reeling into the red after a tweet by President-elect Donald Trump.
This time around, Trump turned his gaze to Lockheed Martin's F-35 program in a tweet early Monday morning.
"The F-35 program and cost is out of control," Trump tweeted. "Billions of dollars can and will be saved on military (and other) purchases after January 20th."
The next-generation fighter jet has overrun costs — overshooting the original budget by 50% — but is near completion. In total, the military has spent roughly $1.5 trillion on the development of the F-35.
Following the tweet, Lockheed Martin's stock fell by as much as 3%; it was down 2.55% as of 8:45 a.m. ET. Based on the number of shares outstanding, the tweet has shaved just over $2 billion from Lockheed's market cap.
Trump previously went after the F-35 program on the campaign trail as an example of wasteful government spending, and he reiterated his opinion in an interview on Fox News on Sunday.
The tweet came just one week after Trump took aim at Boeing over costs for the replacement Air Force One. Boeing stock fell by 1.5% after the tweet but ended the trading day positive.
After the Boeing tweet, Trump argued that part of his role as president would be to "negotiate" prices.
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