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UBS projects 150% revenue growth in missiles and fire control through 2030 Summary

UBS upgraded Lockheed Martin to Buy and raised its target to $674, projecting 9% revenue growth through 2028.

Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT rose 2.42% intraday after UBS upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and lifted its price target to $674 from $581, implying roughly 25% upside.

UBS expects 150% revenue growth in the missiles and fire control segment between 2025 and 2030, built on multi-year production frameworks, reflecting changed views on stockpile requirements and international demand. Across the company it models a 9% revenue compound annual growth rate through 2028, above consensus, and sees double-digit earnings per share upside to 2028 estimates. Missiles and munitions, F-35 sustainment, CH-53K and Trident are the named drivers.

On the budget worry, UBS thinks the market has it wrong. Awards are flowing and outlay catch-up is underway, with a 17% increase in July and 36% of the fiscal 2026 budget still to spend. The stock trades at a 15% discount to the S&P 500, which the firm argues doesn't reflect the production ramp the Pentagon is pushing the supply chain to deliver.

Disclosures I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and have no plans to buy any new positions in the stocks mentioned within the next 72 hours.

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Governments worldwide are increasing their defense budgets.

*Stock prices used were the afternoon prices of Sept. 3, 2026. The video was published on Sept. 5, 2026.

Parkev Tatevosian, CFA has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Parkev Tatevosian is an affiliate of The Motley Fool and may be compensated for promoting its services. If you choose to subscribe through his link, he will earn some extra money that supports his channel. His opinions remain his own and are unaffected by The Motley Fool.

Sweden ‌has decided it will buy Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N) Himars ​artillery rocket system, ​Swedish Defence Minister Pal ⁠Jonson said on ​Monday.

The value of the ​deal will be around 7 billion Swedish crowns ($728.8 million), Jonson ​told a press ​conference

The deal will be for ‌around ⁠10 Himars (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) systems, plus ammunition

Deliveries are ​expected ​from ⁠2027

Ammunition for the systems to be ​produced in Sweden ​by ⁠Saab (SAABb.ST) in cooperation with Lockheed Martin

($1 = 9.6049 ⁠Swedish ​crowns)

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Lockheed Martin earns a buy rating, supported by a record $230 billion backlog and robust multi-segment growth. LMT's missile and air defense programs, notably PAC-3 and THAAD, are driving production expansion and long-term revenue visibility. F-35 remains a core revenue and sustainment engine, while all four business segments posted sales growth in the latest quarter.

Key Takeaways Lockheed Martin is benefiting from strong defense demand, lifting backlog to a record $230 billion.Javelin, missile-defense and hypersonic investments expand Lockheed Martin's growth opportunities.Lockheed Martin faces program risks and high debt, prompting investors to await a better entry point. Lockheed Martin’s (LMT - Free Report) shares have risen 12.6% year to date, outperforming the Zacks Aerospace-Defense industry’s decline of 4.1%. LMT is benefiting from a favorable macro backdrop of higher U.S. and allied defense spending, inventory replenishment and growing demand for missile defense, munitions, advanced aircraft and space systems.
 

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Shares of other defense stocks, such as General Dynamics (GD - Free Report) and Northrop Grumman (NOC - Free Report) , have shown mixed performance in the year-to-date period. Shares of General Dynamics have risen 9.7% while those of Northrop Grumman have lost 6.5% over the time frame.

Considering Lockheed Martin’s outperformance, investors might be left wondering if this is a good time to add LMT stock to their portfolio. Let's examine the factors that contributed to the share price gain and assess the stock's investment prospects to make an informed decision.

Tailwinds for LMT StockLockheed Martin is capitalizing on strong demand by securing longer-duration awards, enhancing revenue visibility and supporting capacity expansion. Backlog reached a record $230 billion as of June 28, 2026, after the company booked $65 billion of second-quarter orders and achieved a 3.2 book-to-bill ratio.

In August 2026, Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems signed an MOU designating Tata Advanced Systems as the prime Indian partner for locally co-producing the Javelin anti-tank missile. Javelin is developed and produced by the Javelin Joint Venture (“JJV”), a partnership between Raytheon in Tucson, Arizona, and Lockheed Martin in Orlando, FL. The collaboration strengthens LMT's exposure to India's rising defense spending, expands its international production footprint and could support higher Javelin volumes over time. With more than 55,000 missiles already produced, the Javelin program provides the partnership with an established product rather than an unproven system.

In August 2026, Lockheed Martin has been selected by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to modernize its Modeling & Simulation Objective Simulation Framework, a virtual environment used to test and evaluate missile-defense systems before they are deployed. This is particularly attractive as missile threats become more complex and the Pentagon increases investment in layered missile defense. Lockheed Martin's broader missile-defense portfolio — including THAAD, PAC-3 and the Next Generation Interceptor — allows expertise gained through the simulation framework to complement its physical weapons programs.

On Aug. 11, 2026, Lockheed Martin announced a multimillion-dollar internal investment to develop a Modular Payload Delivery System (“MPDS”) that uses proven hypersonic missile-body technologies but redesigns them into a modular architecture. A modular design should enable the company to respond more quickly to evolving Pentagon requirements while potentially reducing the time and engineering costs required to develop new variants.

Challenges for LMT StockLockheed Martin remains exposed to cost-estimate and schedule risk on complex programs, especially under fixed-price arrangements. Second-quarter 2026 results benefited from the absence of the $1.6 billion in reach-forward losses recorded in the prior-year period, rather than from the elimination of the underlying execution risk. Aeronautics also recorded $160 million of lower net favorable profit adjustments.

Management cited F-16 and C-130 program challenges as factors affecting Aeronautics margins, while lower initial booking rates on new contracts may weigh on profitability. The company also retains existing classified and helicopter program exposures on its balance sheet, which could continue to generate additional program losses over time if cost, scope or approval assumptions deteriorate.

Estimates for LMT StockThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings per share (EPS) indicates year-over-year growth of 31.44%. LMT’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 19.19%.
 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for General Dynamics’ 2026 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 9.44%.  GD’s long-term earnings growth rate is 10.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Northrop Grumman’s 2026 EPS indicates year-over-year growth of 9.45%. NOC’s long-term earnings growth rate is 5.33%.

LMT’s Earnings Surprise HistoryThe company beat on earnings in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one, delivering an average surprise of 8.85%.

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LMT’s Debt PositionCurrently, the company’s total debt to capital is 70.08%, higher than the industry’s average of 46.7%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

LMT Stock Trades at a DiscountIn terms of valuation, LMT’s forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) is 1.51X, a discount to the industry’s average of 2.4X. This suggests that the stock is trading at a lower valuation relative to its projected sales growth than its peer group.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

What Should an Investor Do Now?Lockheed Martin is benefiting from strong defense demand, building a larger backlog and securing longer-term opportunities that improve revenue visibility and support future capacity expansion. Its partnerships and investments in Javelin production, missile-defense simulation, and modular hypersonic systems strengthen its international presence, broaden its technology portfolio and position the company to benefit from growing demand for advanced defense 
capabilities.

Considering its financial pressures and current debt levels, new investors should wait and watch for a better entry point. Investors who already own this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock may consider retaining it, given the company’s earnings growth outlook and price performance.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Pentagon said ​on Monday it ‌secured seven-year agreements with General ​Dynamics Ordnance ​and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS) and ⁠Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) ​to increase missile ​production.

The agreements are designed to "increase production quantities ​and accelerate ​delivery schedules for critical ‌missile ⁠subcomponents supporting the Terminal High Altitude Area ​Defense (THAAD) ​and ⁠Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile ​Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 ​MSE) ⁠interceptor programs," the Pentagon said.

Lockheed Martin earns a buy rating due to a robust backlog, strong missile segment growth, and a compelling long-term growth trajectory. LMT's record $230.4B backlog, with the missile backlog nearly doubling to $87.9B, underpins years of future revenue and cash flow expansion. Despite fundamental undervaluation (PEG 0.97, P/E 20.5% below the sector), I await either a technical breakout above $730 or a value entry near $515.

Biondo Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT – Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 23,608 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,027,000. Lockheed Martin comprises 1.5% of Biondo Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Basso Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Lockheed Martin during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Burnham & Co LLC bought a new position in Lockheed Martin during the second quarter valued at $25,000. United Financial Planning Group LLC bought a new position in Lockheed Martin during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Clarity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lockheed Martin in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin by 66.7% in the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 55 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. 74.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lockheed Martin Stock Up 0.2% NYSE:LMT opened at $564.61 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Lockheed Martin Corporation has a 1-year low of $437.25 and a 1-year high of $692.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $547.80 and a 200 day moving average of $575.31. The firm has a market cap of $130.31 billion, a PE ratio of 20.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.10.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $7.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.22 by $0.72. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 91.42%. The business had revenue of $20.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.34 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Lockheed Martin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 29.950-30.650 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 30.39 EPS for the current fiscal year. Lockheed Martin Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a $3.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $13.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Lockheed Martin from $680.00 to $605.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. DZ Bank raised shares of Lockheed Martin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Lockheed Martin in a research note on Sunday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Lockheed Martin from $653.00 to $690.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $581.00 price target on shares of Lockheed Martin in a report on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Lockheed Martin currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $632.39.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Company Profile (Free Report)

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) is a global aerospace and defense company that designs, develops and manufactures advanced technology systems for government and commercial customers. Formed through the 1995 merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, the company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and focuses on providing integrated solutions across air, space, land and sea domains. Its primary customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and allied governments around the world.

Lockheed Martin’s product and service portfolio spans military aircraft, missile and fire-control systems, missile defense, space systems and satellite technologies, sensors and precision weapons.

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Are you looking for a turnaround story or a steady defense titan? We compare Advance Auto Parts (AAP +0.45%) and Lockheed Martin (LMT -1.38%) to see which fits your portfolio best for 2026.

Advance Auto Parts provides automotive components for repairs, while Lockheed Martin develops advanced technologies for global security. Retail investors often weigh these types of stocks against one another when balancing a portfolio between cyclical growth and defensive stability. By examining their financials and strategy, you can better understand which of these very different businesses aligns with your financial goals.

The case for Advance Auto PartsAdvance Auto Parts focuses on aftermarket parts for both professional installers and do-it-yourself customers. In its latest annual report, filed in early 2026, the company highlighted a shift toward a core blended-box model following the sale of its Worldpac division. This strategy aims to streamline operations within consumer discretionary stocks and improve its competitive standing in a crowded market.

In FY 2025, revenue reached $8.6 billion, representing a year-over-year decline of approximately 5.4%. Despite the sales dip, the company managed to report a net income of $44 million, resulting in a net margin of approximately 0.5% for the fiscal year. The company is currently implementing a multi-year restructuring plan to optimize its supply chain, reduce costs, and enhance its competitive position in a fragmented market.

As of its January 2026 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio is nearly 2.4x. This metric compares total debt to shareholder equity and indicates a significant reliance on borrowed capital to fund operations. Free cash flow for the year was negative $298 million, defined as cash from operations minus capital expenditures. Its so-called current ratio was 1.7x, indicating an ability to cover short-term debts with assets like cash and inventory.

The case for Lockheed MartinLockheed Martin operates as a global leader in aerospace and security technology, primarily serving the U.S. government which accounts for roughly 72% of total sales. Customer concentration like this adds a layer of risk to the business, making it highly dependent on federal budget decisions. The company is also expanding its undersea defense capabilities through a $3.45 billion agreement to buy Ultra Maritime.

In FY 2025, revenue reached approximately $75.1 billion, representing growth of 5.7% over the previous year. This resulted in net income of just over $5 billion. The F-35 program remains the primary revenue driver, contributing nearly 27% of total sales and supporting international partnerships.

As of its December 2025 balance sheet, the debt-to-equity ratio was roughly 3.2x. This ratio measures total debt relative to shareholders' equity, indicating how much a company relies on borrowed money. Free cash flow reached $6.9 billion in the year. The current ratio, which compares assets to upcoming bills, is nearly 2.8x.

Risk profile comparisonRisks include the execution of its 2024 restructuring plan, which expects up to $40 million in charges through 2026 while facing stiff competition from O'Reilly Automotive Inc (ORLY +0.03%) and AutoZone Inc (AZO -0.14%). Additionally, the integration of artificial intelligence into operations poses risks if development fails or if competitors like Amazon.com Inc (AMZN -0.57%) adopt these technologies faster. Supply chain vulnerabilities remain a constant threat, as reliance on global suppliers exposes the company to potential disruptions from new tariffs or logistical challenges.

High dependency on U.S. government contracts makes the company vulnerable to budget shifts, while large projects like the F-35 carry risks of cost overruns. The company also faces a $4.25 billion lawsuit from SDR Group and competition for contracts from Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC -2.27%) and Boeing Co (BA -0.42%). Furthermore, supply chain issues for semiconductors and international sales subject to strict export controls add layers of complexity and performance risk.

Valuation comparisonAdvance Auto Parts currently trades at a lower Forward P/E and P/S ratio than Lockheed Martin. The Forward P/E compares the stock price to future earnings estimates, while the P/S ratio compares price to annual revenue.

MetricAdvance Auto PartsLockheed MartinForward P/E16.0x18.8xP/S ratio0.3x1.7xValuation metrics sourced from Financial Modeling Prep (FMP) and may differ from other data providers.

Advance Auto Parts is in the midst of turning around the struggles it has experienced over the past few years, including sales growth, margins, and market share. The aftermarket auto parts business has been in a slump, largely due to a mix of factors: weak do-it-yourself demand, vehicle electrification, intense competition, and general pocketbook pressures on consumers.

Company management has been addressing the business's issues by rolling out a new multi-year turnaround program. That started in late 2024, including closing stores, optimizing store footprints, and overhauling its supply chain. To date, the program has largely been a success, especially in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, with results much better than expected: revenue of $2.6 billion and net income of $25 million. Analysts see sales for the full year 2026 a little lower at $8.57 billion, but with improving net income, expected to come in at $167 million, roughly four times 2025.

Lockheed Martin Corp is a core company in the middle of one of the biggest priorities in the U.S.: aerospace and defense. In particular, the F-35 fighter program remains a pillar of Lockheed's business, with the Defense Department planning to continue to buy the jet into the 2040s. Having more than a quarter of revenue essentially guaranteed for 15 years or more is unheard of and quite appealing to a long-term investor.

Advance Auto Parts could be a turnaround story, but its price-to-sales ratio shows deep skepticism on Wall Street. The better bet is to invest in Lockheed Martin, as the Iran war and long-term defense spending trends mean tailwinds for the defense contractor.

Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT – Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 90,123 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,914,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LMT. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lockheed Martin by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Cerro Pacific Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,376 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $665,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp increased its position in Lockheed Martin by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 1,735 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $839,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Davis R M Inc. increased its position in Lockheed Martin by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 1,264 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 16 shares in the last quarter. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Broadway Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 484 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $234,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Growth Partners LLC lifted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Aspire Growth Partners LLC now owns 2,515 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,217,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. 74.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $615.00 to $575.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $680.00 to $605.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Lockheed Martin from $575.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings raised Lockheed Martin from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Lockheed Martin from $641.00 to $691.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $632.39.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on LMT Lockheed Martin Stock Performance Shares of Lockheed Martin stock opened at $571.60 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $131.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.10. Lockheed Martin Corporation has a twelve month low of $437.25 and a twelve month high of $692.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $547.31 and its 200 day moving average is $575.81. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $7.94 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.22 by $0.72. The firm had revenue of $20.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.34 billion. Lockheed Martin had a return on equity of 91.42% and a net margin of 8.16%.The business’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. Lockheed Martin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 29.950-30.650 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 30.39 EPS for the current year.

Lockheed Martin Announces Dividend The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $3.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $13.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.87%.

Lockheed Martin News Roundup Here are the key news stories impacting Lockheed Martin this week:

Positive Sentiment: Lockheed Martin completed the first fully integrated Aegis System Equipped Vessel for Japan, a milestone that expands its role in Japan’s maritime air- and missile-defense infrastructure and supports broader Indo-Pacific defense cooperation. The achievement could strengthen the company’s position for future naval and missile-defense contracts. Lockheed Martin Completes First Japan ASEV In Indo Pacific Defense Milestone Positive Sentiment: Recent activity involving AI-enabled airspace sensing, next-generation missile-defense testing, modular defense systems and responsive space-launch partnerships adds to Lockheed Martin’s growth narrative. The company and its partners also participated in more than $152 million of recent Department of Defense contracts and a $920 million Air Force award pool. Should Lockheed’s AI Sensing and Space Partnerships Shift the Core Investment Case for LMT? Positive Sentiment: A valuation analysis argued that LMT may be approximately 24% undervalued based on discounted-cash-flow and comparable-multiple measures, despite an 87.9% five-year return. This may support the view that long-term defense demand is not fully reflected in the shares. Lockheed Martin Stock May Be 24% Undervalued On Japan Defense System News Neutral Sentiment: Commentary highlighted a potential new entry point in the military naval market, but the reports did not indicate a material near-term revenue or earnings contribution. Why Did Lockheed Martin Stock Drop Today? Neutral Sentiment: Speculation that Lockheed Martin could split its stock if it returns to its recent high is not a fundamental catalyst; a split would change the share count and price denomination, but not the company’s value. Stock-Split Watch: Is Lockheed Martin Next? Lockheed Martin Profile (Free Report)

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) is a global aerospace and defense company that designs, develops and manufactures advanced technology systems for government and commercial customers. Formed through the 1995 merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, the company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and focuses on providing integrated solutions across air, space, land and sea domains. Its primary customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and allied governments around the world.

Lockheed Martin’s product and service portfolio spans military aircraft, missile and fire-control systems, missile defense, space systems and satellite technologies, sensors and precision weapons.

Read More Five stocks we like better than Lockheed Martin 3 Energy Stocks Raising Dividends as the Sector Surges 5 Reasons the S&P 500 Could Keep Rallying Through Year-End Walmart’s Post-Earnings Drop Could Be a Buying Opportunity The Trade Desk’s Earnings Miss Raises a Bigger Question About Its AI Future Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LMT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT – Free Report).

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Stock to Watch: Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) Lockheed Martin is one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense contractors. Its main areas of focus are in defense, space, intelligence, homeland security and information technology including cyber security. In 2025, 72% of the company’s net sales were from the U.S. Government, including 63% from the Department of War (DoW) and 28% from international customers. Lockheed Martin currently operates through four businesses — Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control (MFC), Rotary and Missions Systems (RMS) and Space Systems.

LMT is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.

It also boasts a Value Style Score of B thanks to attractive valuation metrics like a forward P/E ratio of 19.39; value investors should take notice.

Seven analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days for fiscal 2026. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.46 to $30.39 per share. LMT boasts an average earnings surprise of +8.9%.

With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Value and VGM Style Scores, LMT should be on investors' short list.

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Capital Financial Group Inc. Co. ADV purchased a new stake in Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT – Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,113 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,096,000. Lockheed Martin makes up 1.1% of Capital Financial Group Inc. Co. ADV’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest holding.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Basso Capital Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Lockheed Martin in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. United Financial Planning Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lockheed Martin during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Clarity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lockheed Martin during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Triumph Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Lockheed Martin by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 55 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lockheed Martin in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades Several analysts recently commented on LMT shares. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Lockheed Martin from $641.00 to $691.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $680.00 to $605.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Lockheed Martin from $740.00 to $700.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Lockheed Martin from $660.00 to $600.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Lockheed Martin from $653.00 to $690.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $632.39.

Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin Stock Performance Shares of LMT opened at $594.26 on Tuesday. Lockheed Martin Corporation has a 12-month low of $437.25 and a 12-month high of $692.00. The stock has a market cap of $137.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.90, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34. The company has a 50-day moving average of $544.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $576.42.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $7.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.22 by $0.72. Lockheed Martin had a net margin of 8.16% and a return on equity of 91.42%. The business had revenue of $20.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. Lockheed Martin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 29.950-30.650 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 30.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lockheed Martin Announces Dividend The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $3.45 per share. This represents a $13.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio is 50.87%.

(Free Report)

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) is a global aerospace and defense company that designs, develops and manufactures advanced technology systems for government and commercial customers. Formed through the 1995 merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, the company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and focuses on providing integrated solutions across air, space, land and sea domains. Its primary customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and allied governments around the world.

Lockheed Martin’s product and service portfolio spans military aircraft, missile and fire-control systems, missile defense, space systems and satellite technologies, sensors and precision weapons.

Featured Stories Five stocks we like better than Lockheed Martin Commodities Are Booming, But These 3 ETFs Tell Different Stories 3 Active ETFs Making Big Moves in August This ETF Is Outperforming by Avoiding the S&P 500’s Biggest Problem Birkenstock Beats the Skeptics—But Not on EPS Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LMT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT – Free Report).

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Download this episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or listen below:

Steve Cress shares why balance and diversification is key right now (0:20) Lockheed Martin for income (4:15) Sandisk for growth (7:25)

Transcript

Rena Sherbill: You know him, you love him, you respect his picks. It's Steve Cress. Welcome back to Investing Experts. Always great to talk to you.

Steve Cress: Always great to be here.

Rena Sherbill: It's nice to talk to you because I feel like investors need some clarity once again in terms of how to navigate this market. We were discussing before we hit record, it's a risk on market, it's a risk off market, it's constantly changing, the market is up, it's hitting record highs, it's down.

Why is it down? Why is it up? Why isn't it piggybacking off of this headline? Why is it pack why is it piggybacking off of this headline? So how would you clarify, how would you encourage investors to think about investing looking at this market right now?

Steve Cress: Balance and diversification. Keep investing. You never know when the market's gonna be up or down.

It has definitely been a very strange year. Here we are in August, and the market, the S&P 500 (SP500), is touching all-time highs. But in a way, you almost would not know, especially if you are overweight technology.

There have been so many episodes of risk-on, risk-off, as you've mentioned this year it's kind of hard to tell where to be. So at one point in the year, technology was outperforming all sectors. At another point in the year, energy was outperforming all sectors.

At another point in the year you could see there was a clustering of healthcare and consumer staples and utilities. And then it goes back to AI stocks. The AI trade and risk went off the table pretty much starting in the beginning of June.

And we've seen some of those stocks start to rally back. And the rotation went into like the safe haven sectors. This is really the second or third time this year we've seen this kind of rotation occur, but the S&P continues to move forward to new highs.

So in this kind of market, you want broad exposure, you want diversification. And being that there are geopolitical risks, there's seasonality risk with midterm elections coming up. There's obviously inflation risk. The overyear numbers were still quite high even though the core numbers look better, you can't ignore it.

Energy prices are far higher than they have been. So that's impacting CPI. And there's no telling with the geopolitical events which way that's gonna lead. So we'll bring interest rates up, will interest rates stay unchanged, there's a lot of uncertainty there.

So my guidance is keep investing, but go for diversification. And we particularly like what I call barbell approach is where we combine income oriented stocks with being opportunistic and buying, you know, great stocks with good fundamentals that have come off in their price. And we have definitely witnessed that over the last month and a half.

Rena Sherbill: Basically a way to hedge both sides of the coin.

Steve Cress: Yeah. I used to run a hedge fund and I think if I had to redo it, I would use this approach. Now you know, technically when you're hedging, you need to be shorting stocks. But I actually kind of like the approach of being in, you know, growth-oriented stocks that have strong fundamentals.

But as my hedge, and typically the stocks that produce the income aren't those risk odd type of stocks. They're not like the IT stocks or the consumer discretionary stocks or some of the high beta industrial names, you tend to find financials, healthcare stocks, utility stocks, REITs as the income generators.

And it's a really nice offset to the growth perspective. And you want to continue to invest on a monthly basis, but when you hit markets like this, which still have so much uncertainty, that diversification I believe is key.

Rena Sherbill: So how do you approach it? What do you use for growth? What would you use for income? Are you looking at specific stocks or you looking at specific sectors?

I know you had an article this past week that discussed this also. How do you discuss that? How do you encourage investors to think about this barbell approach?

Steve Cress: Yeah, the the article, feel free to click on it. It's called Navigating Market Turbulence, 6 top stocks for balancing, stability, and growth. It came out on August 13th. And if you click on it, please follow me so you can see some of my other articles as well. But it really speaks to the environment that we're in.

There's any number of ways that you can identify these stocks. You don't have to go on my recommendations. Seeking Alpha has a screening tool where you could identify growth stocks or you can identify dividend stocks. So it's available.

But in particular, one stock that I do like is Lockheed Martin (LMT), which is an income generating stock. The yield on it currently it's 2.3%. So it's significantly higher than the SP 500. And even at 2.3%, it would be higher than many income oriented ETFs.

By example, the Vanguard High Yield Index ETF has a yield that's only about 2%. So Lockheed Martin coming in at 2.3% for its forward yield is above that. But it's a you know an industrial company in the aerospace of defense, it's the largest out there.

And being that unfortunately we've had so many wars throughout the world between the Ukraine and Russia, the Middle East, the US and Iran, a lot of stockpiles worldwide are quite low.

So it puts Lockheed Martin in a very good position, their valuation is in line with the industrial sector. And right now, the growth is in line with the industrial sector. But we have a lot of analysts revising their numbers up for Lockheed Martin. So I think that continues to put it in a good place. So yes, that's yielding about 2.3%.

Whenever I do have an income oriented idea, it typically is a strong buyer buy as well. So I look at that directional rating different than I do the dividend yield. for our dividend yield, our primary concern is that the companies will maintain that dividend.

So we have another set of factors that we use, which I called dividend grades. And we have a dividend safety grade and a dividend growth grade. So when I do look to buy dividend stocks, I make sure in terms of those dividend grades that they're at minimum in the C plus B minus range.

And I feel fairly confident that your dividends should be safe for those. Then we have our directional recommendation, which is a strong buy, buy, or hold, which means that stocks should offer capital appreciation as well. So we're kind of combining, looking for capital appreciation and income at the same time. And Lockheed Martin fits right in that.

If I were to look on the growth side, one of the stocks that I like a lot now is Sandisk (SNDK). This is in the IT sector, specifically in the technology hardware and storage sector. Sandisk is a name that's actually really well known for thumb drives, these little red thumb drives have been around for decades that say Sandisk on it, pretty much is known as the memory stick company.

But it as I often say it's no longer your father's Sandisk memory stick. They are heavily involved in data centers and memory for data centers. And this has meant a lot for their company in terms of growth.

It's one of the few companies that in the IT sector is incredibly cheap. So, in terms of valuation, we have an A plus grade on it, and that A plus grade gives you an instant characterization saying this is far cheaper than the rest of the sector.

The factor grades that we use are always relative to the sector. So whether you're looking at the value, growth, or profitability, you see at A grade or an F grade, gives you that instant characterization of where it is versus a sector.

And when you click on valuation for Sandisk, it's got a PE. Like this is incredible. Its forward PE is only 6.96 times versus the sector at 30 times.

So it's incredibly cheap versus a sector, but if you look at the company's forward growth rate, the EPS growth rate right now, forward growth is 345%. So it has tremendous growth, it is incredibly cheap.

It's one of our top strong buy recommendations, and we have this in our Alpha Picks portfolio as well as in our PQP portfolio, which are focused on growth.

And I should mention Lockheed Martin is in our Quant Growth and Income portfolio, which is a product rebalances once every two weeks, maybe two to three trades a month.

But all the stocks in the Quant Growth and Income portfolio, they pay dividends. Where with Alpha Picks and PQP, that's not a criteria. So it's nice to have a balanced approach for the individual stocks or for portfolio services. If you want to have both, you can have the Quant Growth and Income and a product like Alpha Picks. So you get that nice balance of focusing on capital appreciation as well as income generation.

Rena Sherbill: I have a couple questions about Lockheed Martin, but I also, as long as you're talking about the quant growth and income portfolio, which we had an episode a month ago, a couple months ago with you introducing that portfolio.

And just to kind of update our audience on that portfolio, much like your other portfolios, Steve, it's doing gangbusters. So I would love it if you could share an update with our audience about that.

Steve Cress: Yeah, absolutely. This has actually been since the beginning of June, it's been the best performing portfolio. we launched it on June 3rd. And since June 3rd, it is up 12.74%. and the benchmark, which is that Vanguard high yield index ETF is up only four point four percent, but it's beating so many different sectors. So right place at the right time.

Even though the S&P five hundred is near an all time high, the stocks within this portfolio have heavily been rewarded during this risk on, risk off phase and period of uncertainty. So it has a fair amount of financial stocks in there, REITs, some industrials, some healthcares. So it's really been in the right place at the right time.

And the good news is, with this portfolio, you would really never expect this from a portfolio that's focused on growth and income. But some of the returns have been amazing. So we have Federal Agricultural Mortgage (AGM) in Quant Growth and Income. It is up 32.5%.

We have Marathon Petroleum (MPC), up 32%. Valero Energy (VLO) up 30%. RTX Corporation (RTX) up 27%. Phillips (PSX) up 25%. First Source up 21%. And conversely, pointing out the losers, which I always do to be transparent. The worst performing stock is only down four point six percent. And the second worst performing stock is only down one point six four. So you can see our winners are way, way, way outperforming the losers in the portfolio.

So definitely a really good product for especially periods of uncertainty that we're in now. And as I said, there are geopolitical issues across the world. We have the midterm elections coming up, which going back to nineteen twenty five, for the twenty five midterm elections, the market is usually pulled back ahead of that election. Does well after the election, but usually the markets are soft prior to that period.

Rena Sherbill: It's really like the QG&I portfolio seems to be proof that the barbell approach works, especially during these types of market environments.

Steve Cress: It is. And, that is focused on both capital appreciation and income generation, but it's not quite as capital appreciation oriented as a product like Alpha Picks or PQP, which tends to have many more technology stocks in it.

But that's why, what I like about both approaches is I want to be opportunistic. So really, the best time to get in these stocks is when the market pulls back.

So you want to identify companies that have strong fundamentals that have come off their highs. And we're in a perfect period to do that.

And I really started pushing Micron Technology (MU) and Sandisk (SNDK) really earlier last week, and people have already been rewarded. Investors are starting to return to some of these AI stocks and usually the ones with the good fundamentals come back the sharpest and the fastest.

Rena Sherbill: I still have those questions about Lockheed Martin, but are you worried at all? Or I guess when do you start to worry about how much further the runup has in stocks like Micron and Sandisk? What are the telltale signs that will make you step out of those names?

Steve Cress: Yeah, when the quant rating goes to a sell or a strong sell.

Rena Sherbill: What catalyst would cause that to happen?

Steve Cress: So we would see growth for the companies drop dramatically, or we would see the valuation skyrocket, or we would see profitability. We would see analyst revisions come off sharply.

We could see momentum come off sharply. So when we identify stocks, we're looking at five factors, especially when we're buying, they have to be collectively strong in those factors, which are value, growth, profitability, analyst revisions, and momentum.

And conversely, when those factors aren't working. and we have just as many strong buys as we have strong sells and just as many buys as we have sells. So it really equalizes in the portfolio. And just as you have factors that are positive, you have factors that are negative.

So if any of these companies which have these good fundamentals, the factors started to go sideways or south, the model would pick up to it and the ratings would drop down to sell or strong sell.

I don't hold is a hold in my book. And I've mentioned before even with our alpha pix portfolio of a stock drops to hold, we actually keep it in the portfolio for a hundred and eighty days as a hold. So hold does mean hold.

Rena Sherbill: And how typical is it, if at all, for a stock to go from a strong buy to a strong sell in one fell swoop? Or is it a gradual kind of decline?

Steve Cress: It's more of a gradual decline. You typically don't see that, but you it does happen on occasion and, typically will there'll be some type of impact for a company's business.

It could be any number of things, their products shut down or, the imagination could go wild on the number of things that happen. It happens, but not that often.

It's usually more of a gradual, strong buy to hold and then after a certain period of time, usually a number of quarters, a stock will drop to from a hold to a sell.

Rena Sherbill: And in terms of the dividend grades, like if you look at Lockheed Martin, we show you on Seeking Alpha like three months ago, how it looks six months ago. And you can see that it's been pretty consistent for them in terms of their dividend payments.

What would you see in terms of like, let's say a dividend is about to be cut? What would you see along the, or or do you just see a headline, the dividend's cut, and then it'll go from like a strong buy to a hold, let's say?

Steve Cress: That's a really good question. And what we try to do with the dividend grades is help people avoid dividend cuts.

That's really the most important fact of why we established dividend grades is we did not want to recommend stocks, especially for investors that depend on that income to be in a a risky situation.

So I am pleased to say that backtesting this going back to 2010, we found with the dividend grades that we put in place, especially for the dividend safety grade, that ninety not ninety-eight percent of dividend cuts were averted if a dividend grade ranged from A plus to B minus.

So you can feel fairly comfortable. We have these metrics set in place that we back tested.

And so long as the company meets those metrics, and these are sector relative. So that's why we have these grades. So long as they meet those metrics, in ninety-eight percent of the instances going back to 2010, dividend cuts were averted if you had a stock that had a grade between B minus and A plus.

Conversely, we found that 91.3% of all stocks that cut their dividend had a dividend grade between F and C plus. So if you own a stock and you can put it into the portfolio tool, or you just put it on the stock page and put the symbol in. And you see that that dividend grade ranges between that dividend safety grade ranges between F and C.

That should definitely be a warning flag to you. And you can actually click on the dividend safety grade and it will show you all the underlying metrics that we look at. and there's over a dozen metrics that we look at for the dividend safety grade, and it will show you with each metric which one has an A, which one has a B, which has an F. So that is something I would definitely focus on.

That's kind of the telltale, which leads into your question, hopefully we know by that dividend safety grade if a company is at risk of coveting cutting a dividend.

And if it's doing its job and you see a dividend safety grade that's a D, that is an indicator to you you don't want to own this stock if you're depending on a dividend.

Now there will be many situations where companies could have a dividend safety grade of a D, but the stock is a strong buy. And, in situations like that, companies have decided that they want to grow their earnings, they don't want to grow their dividend.

So the dividend could be susceptible to being cut because they're putting cash flow back into the company, which could make it a straw buy. So they're two different things.

The dividend safe the dividend grades are there just to really measure dividend safety and dividend growth and dividend consistency, they are not the tool that we use to indicate the momentum of a stock up or down.

That momentum of the stock would be in the quant factor grades and that directional recommendation where you see the rating of strong buy, buy, or sell. So if you are dependent on a dividend, even if the stock is a strong buy, if that dividend grade comes up as a C or C minus or D or D plus, know that there is potential risk to that.

Rena Sherbill: First of all, that's some really interesting data because it sounds like we've solved for the dividend cut issue. And also there's more nuance to what it means to have maybe not a great dividend score, but great other scores. And so you're getting into it for a different reason other than income generation.

Steve Cress: Right. And many, many stocks can have a poor dividend safety grade or poor dividend growth grade.

And it's usually if it's a strong buy, typically earnings per share is doing well, cash flow is doing well, revenue is doing well, the valuation is good, profitability is good, but it's at the expense of not having money set aside for the dividend.

So it's quite possible, very possible to have stocks that could have good capital appreciation potential, but your dividend could be at risk.

Rena Sherbill: Can you think of a stock in recent memory that was like that and or a stock that was looking to grow at at the risk of their dividend, but then kind of put their power back into the dividend when they did correct course?

Steve Cress: I can't think of a particular name off have right now, but I can tell you like during the pandemic, a lot of companies stopped paying their dividend or suspended the dividend or cut the dividend because of what was going on.

And there were a number of high quality companies that did that. So you know, and often you'll find like technology stocks are put more of their their earnings into the earnings per share, but some of them pay dividends, but the payout ratios are typically low, the yields are quite low, because more of the focus is on generating a return on equity for the investors.

Rena Sherbill: And then with Lockheed Martin, one of my remaining questions is just around the geopolitical events, if God willing, peace comes to this earth and there's no more fighting, what is your narrative about Lockheed Martin? Is that something that you're looking at along the way? Do they have other stuff going for them?

Steve Cress: Well, that would be a very good narrative. Fingers crossed that happens. I think one of the reasons why Lockheed Martin is a good stock to own and the sustainability is that the stockpiles have been drawn so low, and so many different military classes that need to be rebuilt that they probably have a pretty good backlog ahead of them, even if all these geopolitical events overnight treaties came up and fighting stopped. Stockpiles are really, really low.

Same thing goes for oil as well. If we had a treaty that occurred with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz was opened tomorrow, you probably see the price of oil tumble from the high eighties back into the seventies, and you might see some of the integrated oil stocks decline.

But for the refiners, that's actually good. And in our portfolio for the quantum growth and income, we have a number of refiners so they would actually benefit by that.

So the stocks have already done well, but should there be peace, refiners would continue to do well as the price of oil drops. It actually improves their margins.

Rena Sherbill: I wanted to ask a question that I saw come up on social media that I feel like we've talked about, but I just wanted to reiterate for our audience.

When you do the screeners for these stocks, you do the screener, but then you also go into the stocks. You're not just doing a screener and then spitting out the list. You're going into each stock and looking at it to make sure that it belongs in the list, correct?

Steve Cress: Well for stocks like for for products like Alpha Picks and QG&I and I and the Pro Quant Portfolio, it is a pretty systematic process. but in essence, it it's taking parameters and criteria that I have set to identify that. I do oversee every one of them.

So if something does strike me as off, there is a default where I override it and that does happen. When I do my stock picks for January top ten and for July top ten, that's much more of a manual process because I'm trying to add a little diversification in there.

I don't really want forty percent of those top ten picks to be in one sector. So I'm looking for a little diversification and that is much more of a manual pick. But with the other ones, we have very strict criteria and parameters set up. So they for the most part are systematic processes, but every single week, when we do select those stocks, I am overlooking it.

Rena Sherbill: Anything that sticks out that you didn't include for a for a certain reason and then you're like, I wish I would have included that? Or has it mostly been you're pretty copacetic with with the results? As you should be, honestly. I mean, they speak for themselves, but curious if there's anything that sticks out.

Steve Cress: Pretty copacetic. Our model for QG&I, it's almost seamless. Sometimes with Alpha Picks, we do have market cap restrictions.

Sometimes the company could meet the restrictions, but the earnings could look suspect that you may have had negative earnings, and for Alpha Picks, we want to exclude any companies that have had negative earnings. So we want a seamless growth rate for a company. So there have been times where I've noticed that and we've taken those stocks out.

PQP has almost no rules whatsoever. So we tend to let that go. But even with PQP, if a a company has a market cap that's too small where there are negative earnings, I might not let that selection go through.

Rena Sherbill: Steve, appreciate this conversation as always. There's a lot of golden nuggets I hope people are picking up for free. They're all for free. It's crazy how much we're giving away. Steve, any final words for our audience before we let you go?

Steve Cress: I would say just stick without a balance approach, especially in this period of uncertainty. corporate earnings look great. Most of the stocks I think in QG&I, 28 of the stocks have reported, 24 handedly beat EPS expectations.

We're finding the same to be true for Alpha Picks and PQP. Most of the companies are beating expectations. Some of them have gotten hammered recently but all the portfolios year to date are beating the benchmarks.

So I would say just stick with that diversification. And if you have the opportunity, take a look at these portfolio products because it's a great source of information and a great source of ideas that do well.

Baxter Bros Inc. bought a new stake in Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 5,809 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $2,959,000. A number of other hedge funds have also

BIP Wealth LLC bought a new position in Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) in the undefined quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,399 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $713,000. A number of other large investors have also recently

Key Takeaways Lockheed Martin's Space sales rose 6% to $3.5 billion, driven by FBM and NGI program volumes.Lockheed Martin opened an 88,000-square-foot Alabama facility to expand NGI production capacity.Lockheed Martin plans nearly $8-$9 billion in manufacturing investment through 2030 to expand capacity. Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) is strengthening its position in the rapidly evolving space-defense market, with its Space business benefiting from increased demand for strategic systems and missile-defense technologies. During the second quarter of 2026, Space sales increased 6% year over year to $3.5 billion, with the majority of the increase coming from higher volumes on Fleet Ballistic Missile (“FBM”) and Next Generation Interceptor (“NGI”) programs.

The NGI program represents one of the most important opportunities within Lockheed Martin’s space-defense portfolio. NGI is being developed for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency as part of the country’s layered homeland missile-defense architecture. Lockheed Martin recently opened an 88,000-square-foot purpose-built facility in Alabama dedicated to NGI production, expanding the company’s manufacturing capacity for the program.

The investment is significant because increasing demand for advanced missile-defense systems will require not only sophisticated technology but also greater production capacity. Lockheed Martin has been investing heavily across its manufacturing network, with nearly $8-$9 billion of planned investment through 2030.

In May 2026, the company was selected by the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command to develop capabilities supporting the Space-Based Interceptor program. The effort is designed to create an early engagement layer within a broader integrated missile-defense architecture, leveraging Lockheed Martin’s experience with NGI, THAAD, PAC-3 and missile-warning technologies.

The combination of FBM and NGI also illustrates the broader opportunity for Lockheed Martin. As governments place greater emphasis on homeland defense and the ability to counter increasingly sophisticated missile threats, demand for these capabilities could remain strong over the long term.

Companies Gain From Growing Space & Missile-Defense DemandThe growing emphasis on space-based defense, strategic systems and missile interception could benefit other defense companies with exposure to these markets.

Northrop Grumman’s (NOC - Free Report) portfolio includes systems supporting national security, missile warning and space-based missions, giving the company exposure to rising government investment in next-generation defense capabilities.

RTX Corporation (RTX - Free Report) could also benefit from sustained demand for missile-defense systems, advanced sensors and precision weapons. Its Raytheon business provides a broad portfolio of air and missile-defense solutions, while increasing investment in layered defense architectures could support demand for interceptors, radars and other mission-critical technologies.

LMT Stock’s Earnings EstimatesThe Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 and 2027 earnings per share indicates a year-over-year improvement of 31.31% and 8.35%, respectively.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

LMT Stock Trades at a DiscountIn terms of valuation, LMT’s forward 12-month price-to-sales (P/S) is 1.69X, a discount to the industry’s average of 2.66X.

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LMT Stock’s Price PerformanceIn the past three months, the company’s shares have risen 16.7% compared with the industry’s 11.2% growth.

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LMT’s Zacks RankThe company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Lockheed Martin Announces Strigo™ and New Product Center of Missile Technology Solutions to Support the Arsenal of Freedom PR Newswire

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 10, 2026

, /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) announced today the launch of Strigo™ – a new set of modular defense solutions that includes radio-frequency (RF) sensors, missile datalinks and missile seeker technologies built on a common baseline. Leveraging common architectures, Strigo solutions can be reconfigured quickly for a range of missions, from air defense to missile defense to air-to-surface engagements and beyond.

To support the rapid development of Strigo solutions, Lockheed Martin has established a dedicated product center to accelerate the concept-to-delivery pipeline of these new capabilities. The product center serves as a storefront of ready-now and near-ready solutions that can be quickly adapted to, and evolve with, a customer's mission set.

Within the Strigo Product Center, Lockheed Martin conducts proactive research to develop and produce new RF sensor and missile technologies before a requirement is even formalized – ensuring the hardware is available at the pace of evolving threats.

WHAT'S NEW

Established less than two years ago, the Strigo Product Center has already advanced multiple concepts from initial design through successful testing, demonstrating a faster path from innovation to operational capability.Specifically, technologies developed through Lockheed Martin's Strigo family of solutions have informed aspects of the PrSM Increment 2 seeker package.WHY IT MATTERS

Speed to Capability: Driven by speed and Lockheed Martin's extensive expertise in developing sensor solutions, the Strigo Product Center enables concepts to move from sketch to tested solution in months, not years, accelerating delivery of critical capabilities to warfighters.Supporting the Arsenal of Freedom: The Strigo Product Center delivers solutions that can be rapidly adapted to counter emerging threats, helping America and its allies maintain a decisive advantage on the battlefield.Investing with Intent: Lockheed Martin has committed $250 million to date to the Strigo Product Center. This investment fuels proactive innovation that stays ahead of customer requirements while leveraging modular architectures to lower lifecycle costs and guarantee long‑term sustainment.EXPERT PERSPECTIVE

"By putting proactive research and development at the forefront, the Strigo Product Center lets us test and deploy new solutions at unprecedented speed. That's how we turn 'what if' into 'what's next' faster than ever before," said Stacy Kubicek, vice president and general manager, Lockheed Martin Sensors and Global Sustainment. "Leveraging our deep expertise in advanced sensor and missile technologies, this long-term investment reshapes the way we develop and deliver next-generation, mission-ready capabilities, ensuring our warfighters have the solutions they need the moment threats evolve."

WHAT'S NEXT

Lockheed Martin will continue to invest in new RF sensor, missile seeker and missile datalink technologies to accelerate today's munitions acceleration efforts while laying the foundation for the next generation of U.S. military capabilities.

About Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is a global defense technology company driving innovation and advancing scientific discovery. Our all-domain mission solutions and 21st Century Security® vision accelerate the delivery of transformative technologies to ensure those we serve always stay ahead of ready. More information at Lockheedmartin.com.

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SOURCE Lockheed Martin

On CNBC’s “Mad Money Lightning Round,” Jim Cramer said Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) is “sensational” and its CEO is “fantastic.”

According to recent news, the company received a major U.S. government contract modification on July 29 for PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors.

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE:AMP) is a “fantastic” stock, Cramer said. “This thing is always cheap, I don’t get it.”

Lending support to his choice, Ameriprise Financial, on July 23, posted better-than-expected earnings for the second quarter.

When asked about AtaiBeckley Inc. (NASDAQ:ATAI), Cramer recommended to own Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) or Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ).

On July 16, Eli Lilly agreed to acquire AtaiBeckley in a deal that values the clinical-stage mental health biotechnology company at up to approximately $3.8 billion.

“If you like IREN Limited (NASDAQ:IREN), go buy CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV). CoreWeave is cheaper and better,” Cramer said.

As per the recent news, IREN, on Tuesday, announced it has completed the acquisition of Mirantis, Inc.

“I just do not like that sector because there’s just too much competition and not enough intellectual property,” Cramer said when asked about Thomson Reuters Corporation (NASDAQ:TRI).

On the earnings front, Thomson Reuters, on Aug. 5, reported second-quarter results that topped Wall Street estimates, while raising its full-year revenue outlook.

Cramer recommended to “steer clear” of Cipher Digital Inc. (NASDAQ:CIFR).

Cipher Mining reported mixed second-quarter financial results on Tuesday.

Price Action Ameriprise Financial shares fell 0.2% to settle at $559.82 on Thursday. IREN shares fell 2.5% to close at $37.93 during the session. AtaiBeckley declined 0.6% to settle at $7.18 on Thursday. Lockheed Martin shares gained 0.9% to close at $582.85. Thomson Reuters shares gained 1.6% to settle at $100.15 on Thursday. Cipher Digital shares declined 2.7% to settle at $18.21. Read Next

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Global defense spending has entered a structural growth phase driven by ongoing geopolitical conflicts and the need to modernize military technology. U.S. defense outlays for this year are around $1 trillion, and the Trump administration is proposing a massive $1.5 trillion budget for 2027.

This historic increase is aimed at replenishing depleted munitions, developing advanced technologies, and boosting the domestic defense industrial base. On top of this, international defense budgets are expanding rapidly, with NATO member nations committing to increasing their core defense spending to 5% of their gross domestic product by 2035.

With global defense spending slated to continue growing at a steady pace, here are three defense stocks for investors to scoop up in August.

Image source: Getty Images.

Lockheed Martin's backlog hit a record level in the second quarter Lockheed Martin (LMT +0.52%) is a dominant player in the aerospace and defense industry and is the world's largest defense contractor by total sales. Lockheed's diversified defense platform is anchored by the F-35 Lightning II program, which is projected to generate $2.1 trillion over its 94-year lifecycle, providing predictable, stable revenue.

In addition to the F-35, Lockheed Martin manufactures other military aircraft, including the F-16 and F-22, while developing other top-secret advanced experimental projects. It also manufactures missile defense technologies, such as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, as well as sea- and space-based missiles.

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In the second quarter, Lockheed's sales grew to $20 billion, while net earnings increased to $1.8 billion. Meanwhile, its backlog reached a record $230 billion, a $64 billion increase year over year. The company also raised its full-year earnings guidance, projecting revenue between $79.75 billion and $81.75 billion, up 8% from the prior year.

Lockheed offers a reliable dividend that it has raised for 23 consecutive years, making it an attractive stock for income-focused investors. If you're seeking exposure to growing defense budgets, Lockheed is an excellent stock to scoop up in August.

GE Aerospace benefits from a dominant engine platform GE Aerospace (GE +2.26%), formerly part of General Electric before its 2024 spinoff (alongside GE Vernova and GE HealthCare), holds a dominant position in the global aircraft engine market. The company's joint venture with Safran Aircraft Engines, CFM International, produces the Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion (LEAP) engine used in major aircraft like the Boeing 737 MAX and Airbus A320, and commands a 39% market share.

This strong market position makes GE Aerospace an attractive long-term investment thanks to its highly profitable aftermarket business. Because aircraft engines require continuous maintenance and upgrades throughout their lifecycle, this business provides GE Aerospace with steady recurring cash flow.

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In the second quarter, the company posted stellar results, with revenue growing 24% year over year to $13.3 billion while free cash flow surged 43% to $3 billion. Its strong results were driven by strong engine deliveries, with LEAP engine deliveries up 41%. Orders increased 17%, and the company's backlog is now over $210 billion, with commercial services accounting for over 80% of this amount.

In addition, its defense footprint continues to grow. For example, its F404 engines were selected by Turkish Aerospace Industries for its HÜRJET advanced jet trainer program, and the CT7 engines were chosen to power the U.K. Ministry of Defense's new medium helicopter program. For investors seeking exposure to a mature business with a steady services backlog, GE Aerospace is another excellent stock.

Red Cat offers a pure-play drone stock investment If you're looking for a speculative stock in the defense industry, Red Cat Holdings (RCAT +7.26%) is an intriguing opportunity. The U.S. is ramping up spending on drones, including collaborative combat aircraft, counter-drone systems, and low-cost drones for mass production, and Red Cat provides investors with exposure as a pure-play defense drone manufacturer.

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To comply with the National Defense Authorization Act, Red Cat has completely removed Chinese components from its supply chain to partner with the United States military. Its participation in the Pentagon's $1.1 billion Drone Dominance Program could be a major catalyst, as the U.S. government looks to procure hundreds of thousands of low-cost tactical combat drones by 2027.

Red Cat is making progress but still carries risk. While it was one of 19 companies to advance to phase 2, the field will ultimately narrow down to five long-term suppliers by 2027. The company is also unprofitable, incurring losses as it scales up its drone manufacturing capabilities.

Red Cat is a high-risk, high-reward stock if it can navigate the Pentagon's competitive procurement process and secure major government contracts for its drones. For aggressive investors willing to tolerate the risk, Red Cat, down 57% from its 52-week high, is an intriguing growth defense stock to scoop up today.

Lockheed Martin is in talks to buy supplies of two critical minerals from U.S. ​mines, two sources familiar with the discussions said, as President Donald Trump pressures defense contractors to cut reliance on China.

AI-Powered Drone Technology Is Transforming Emergency Response While Creating a Multi-Billion-Dollar Market Opportunity

Market News Updates News Commentary

, /PRNewswire/ -- The frequency of wildfires is on the rise, along with their intensity and containment costs. This has led to a shift in emergency response tactics, with drones emerging as a crucial asset for response teams. Instead of relying solely on traditional aircraft or risking the safety of firefighters, agencies can deploy drones rapidly to pinpoint new fire outbreaks, detect hot areas, monitor fire movement, and provide real-time video feed to command centers. Drones offer the advantage of being operational at night when conventional aircraft are inactive, ensuring continuous surveillance during critical moments. With governments prioritizing advanced emergency response technologies, drones are now considered essential tools rather than optional assets.  Companies on the move in the Drone industries include ZenaTech, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZENA), Bridger Aerospace Group Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BAER), Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT), Perimeter Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: PRM), PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG).

This transition presents a significant growth opportunity for investors. Market experts predict substantial expansion in the firefighting drone sector, estimating a growth from approximately $2.5 billion currently to over $8 billion by 2032. This surge is attributed to the escalating wildfire incidents and increased investments in public safety technology. Concurrently, the broader emergency management and disaster response market is forecasted to exceed $250 billion in the early 2030s, while the global Drone-as-a-Service (DaaS) industry could see a surge from its current $35 billion valuation to well above $150 billion by the mid-2030s. Companies involved in this field, whether in drone hardware, AI software, cloud analytics, or drone services, stand to benefit significantly as the adoption of these technologies gains momentum.

The applications of drones extend beyond wildfire management. Emergency services are leveraging drones for tasks such as assessing hurricane damage, monitoring floods, conducting search and rescue operations, evaluating earthquake impacts, handling hazardous material incidents, facilitating emergency medical supply deliveries, and inspecting critical infrastructure post-disaster. With advancements in artificial intelligence, autonomous flight capabilities, thermal imaging, and real-time communication systems, drones have become indispensable in enhancing response speed, aiding in decision-making, and ensuring the safety of first responders. The burgeoning interest in this market among investors is understandable, given that governments are not scaling back on public safety but rather making substantial investments in technologies that enhance response efficiency, cut costs, and ultimately safeguard lives.

ZenaTech (NASDAQ:ZENA) Files Five Patents for ZenaDrone's Acoustic Drone Solution for Wildfire Suppression, Positioning for Government, Emergency Management and Commercial Opportunities in Aerial Firefighting Expected to Grow to a $2.8 Billion Market by 2033 -  ZenaTech, Inc. ($ZENA) (FSE: 49Q) (BMV: ZENA) ("ZenaTech"), a technology solution provider specializing in AI (Artificial Intelligence) drone, Drone as a Service (DaaS), enterprise SaaS, and Quantum Computing solutions,  announces that five United States provisional patents have been filed covering a portfolio of acoustic fire suppression and aerial wildfire assessment technologies, intended for integration with its ZenaDrone subsidiary's drone platform. These soundwave-based fire management solutions, when mounted onto the ZenaDrone 1000 drone platform, are designed to support rapid initial attack and enhance emergency response capabilities as an additional tool alongside traditional ground firefighting.

"Wildfires are one of the most urgent and costly natural threats facing communities today and we believe autonomous aerial drone technology has an important role to play in how they're detected, contained, and extinguished," said Shaun Passley, Ph.D., CEO of ZenaTech. "Our R&D engineering teams are developing proprietary acoustic-based suppression and assessment technologies for the ZenaDrone 1000, an approach we believe can complement, and over time, help reduce reliance on traditional water- and chemical-based methods, while keeping firefighters farther from the most dangerous conditions. We believe a coordinated swarm approach could also extend acoustic suppression's effective range and coverage well beyond what a single drone can achieve today, potentially advancing the technology from short-range, lab-scale results toward broader, real-world perimeter defense."

Acoustic fire suppression is a new technology that uses low-frequency sound --rather than water, foam, or chemicals -- to disrupt a flame at its source. Because nothing is sprayed or discharged, it works where conventional suppression can't, such as for electrical substations, data centers, archives, battery storage, and home ember defense, with room to expand into areas like aviation, marine, and industrial fire safety. As wildfires continue to intensify and utilities as well as insurers seek cleaner alternatives, acoustic fire suppression could potentially fill a gap. ZenaTech management believes the science is proven and the opportunity now is engineering it to work at real-world range and scale.  Further, the company believes whoever solves that first could potentially gain a first-mover position in a largely untapped category.

Looking ahead, a coordinated drone swarm could potentially extend this technology well beyond single-site protection, defending firebreaks and neighborhoods, catching embers before they spark new fires, protecting critical infrastructure, operating at night and in heavy smoke, and reinforcing fire lines as they weaken. Rather than replacing current methods, it's designed to work alongside them, buying time and protecting what matters most where traditional tools fall short.

Wildfires are a chronic, escalating economic burden. Climate-exacerbated wildfires cost the U.S. between $394 billion and $893 billion annually, as much as 4% of GDP, according to the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee. The January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires alone caused an estimated $250–$275 billion in economic damage, per the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. This widening gap between wildfire risk and available response tools is exactly what autonomous, drone-based detection and suppression technology is positioned to help close — and the market reflects it: Grand View Research projects the global firefighting drone market to grow from $1.2 billion in 2024 to nearly $2.8 billion by 2033, a 9.8% CAGR.

The ZenaDrone 1000 is a 7'x 12' multifunction autonomous AI drone capable of carrying up to 40 kg of payload such as acoustics technology, with the ability to operate in coordinated drone swarms. It can be equipped with thermal imaging and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors, as well as engineered to integrate detection, targeting, and suppression into a single autonomous system capable of supporting rapid initial attack in wildfire-prone regions, including areas near critical infrastructure, energy facilities, and government lands.

ZenaTech expects to continue advancing the research, engineering, and field testing of its wildfire suppression technology throughout 2026 as it works toward future commercial and government pilots. Further updates will be provided as additional milestones are reached. Fire management organizations that wish to partner with the ZenaDrone for trials are invited to reach out through [email protected].   Continued…  Read this full release and additional news for ZENA by visiting:  https://www.zenatech.com/newsroom/

Why investors are paying attention to this market:

Growing wildfire activity is driving increased government spending on aerial firefighting technology. AI-enabled drones provide faster detection, real-time mapping, and continuous monitoring while reducing risks to first responders. Emergency response agencies are expanding drone use beyond wildfires into floods, hurricanes, search-and-rescue, and disaster recovery. Autonomous flight, thermal imaging, and cloud-based analytics are creating recurring software and service revenue opportunities. Strong long-term market projections position emergency response drones as one of the fastest-growing segments of the commercial drone industry. In other industry recent and current wildfire solutions news of note:

Bridger Aerospace Group Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BAER), one of the nation's leading aerial firefighting companies, recently announced it has secured a $58 million contract with Texas A&M Forest Service to acquire, modify, and deliver three King Air 360 multi-mission aircraft as the foundation of their wildfire aviation program, delivered over the course of the next three years.

As the threat of wildfires continue to grow in severity and duration, the state of Texas has focused on preparation to protect its growing population. In 2024 alone, Texas A&M Forest Service and local fire departments responded to 5,187 wildfires that burned 1,300,579 acres across the state; including the Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest in state history. Following the growth of wildfire risk, Texas legislature appropriated $257 million to Texas A&M Forest Service for the purchase, operation, and maintenance of wildfire suppression aircraft through HB500. Within this appropriations package, Bridger has been contracted for their King Air program.

The County of San Diego hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of $12 million in renovations at the Ramona Airbase to advance its firefighting capabilities as Southern California's wildfire season grows in intensity and complexity. Working with Perimeter Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: PRM), a leading global manufacturer of high-quality fire retardant and firefighting foam, the County is also taking preventative measures to help protect communities from wildfire by applying PHOS-CHEK® long-term fire retardant along all high fire-risk County roads for the sixth consecutive year.

"Many of my constituents have been personally impacted by wildfire or know someone who has. Fire safety and prevention have consistently been a top priority for my constituents and we continue to invest proactively to provide better protection for the entire county," said Supervisor Joel Anderson, representing District 2 on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. "The renovations made in Ramona will enhance support for the large airtankers needed to combat today's wildfires, cutting down turnaround times for aircraft to reload PHOS-CHEK, and return to the fire faster to save lives and protect our communities."

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), Salesforce (CRM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) announced this year the launch of EMBERPOINTTMLLC, a purpose-built venture that will integrate next-generation wildfire solutions to help first responders detect, prevent and fight catastrophic wildfires. This partnership will set a new standard in wildfire safety, enabling more progress than a single company can achieve alone.

EMBERPOINTTM will use artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, and integrated command-and-control technologies to help first responders detect fires earlier, prevent their spread and enhance coordination for mitigation efforts. Agencies and utilities will gain access to proven, state-of-the-art systems without the burden of development costs, enabling communities to benefit from advanced, affordable wildfire prevention.

DISCLAIMER:  MarketNewsUpdates.com (MNU) is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels.  MNU is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein.  MNU and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security.  MNU'S market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities.  The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material.  All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks.  All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release.  MNU is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers.  Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks.  This press release was distributed on behalf of ZenaTech, Inc.  For current services performed MNU was compensated forty six hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press releases issued by ZenaTech, Inc. by the company.  MNU HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE

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SOURCE Market News Updates

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Stock to Watch: Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) Lockheed Martin is one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense contractors. Its main areas of focus are in defense, space, intelligence, homeland security and information technology including cyber security. In 2025, 72% of the company’s net sales were from the U.S. Government, including 63% from the Department of War (DoW) and 28% from international customers. Lockheed Martin currently operates through four businesses — Aeronautics, Missiles and Fire Control (MFC), Rotary and Missions Systems (RMS) and Space Systems.

LMT is a #3 (Hold) on the Zacks Rank, with a VGM Score of A.

Momentum investors should take note of this Aerospace stock. LMT has a Momentum Style Score of B, and shares are up 9% over the past four weeks.

For fiscal 2026, five analysts revised their earnings estimate upwards in the last 60 days, and the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased $0.34 to $30.31 per share. LMT boasts an average earnings surprise of +8.9%.

With a solid Zacks Rank and top-tier Momentum and VGM Style Scores, LMT should be on investors' short list.

Posted by Defense World Staff on Aug 3rd, 2026

First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services cut its holdings in shares of Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT – Free Report) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,385 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,046 shares during the period. First National Bank of Mount Dora Trust Investment Services’ holdings in Lockheed Martin were worth $4,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LMT. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Lockheed Martin by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,995 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,941,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 5.4% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 973 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. raised its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 17.3% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 1,460 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $676,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake in Lockheed Martin by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 2,250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,042,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Lockheed Martin by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 86,569 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $40,092,000 after acquiring an additional 13,300 shares in the last quarter. 74.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several brokerages have recently commented on LMT. DZ Bank raised shares of Lockheed Martin from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Lockheed Martin from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Lockheed Martin from $615.00 to $575.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup upgraded Lockheed Martin from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $571.00 to $582.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on Lockheed Martin from $770.00 to $680.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $626.33.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin Stock Performance Shares of NYSE LMT opened at $583.42 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $528.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $575.46. Lockheed Martin Corporation has a 52-week low of $412.55 and a 52-week high of $692.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $134.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.10.

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $7.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.22 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $20.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.34 billion. Lockheed Martin had a return on equity of 91.42% and a net margin of 8.16%.The business’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.46 earnings per share. Lockheed Martin has set its FY 2026 guidance at 29.950-30.650 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lockheed Martin Corporation will post 30.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Lockheed Martin Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a dividend of $3.45 per share. This represents a $13.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Lockheed Martin’s dividend payout ratio is presently 50.87%.

Lockheed Martin News Summary Here are the key news stories impacting Lockheed Martin this week:

Positive Sentiment: The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a seven-year contract modification valued at up to $53.86 billion for PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors. Including a previously awarded $4.7 billion first-year contract, the total potential value reaches $58.62 billion—the largest Patriot missile award to date. US awards Lockheed Martin $58.6 billion in largest-ever Patriot missile deal Positive Sentiment: Lockheed Martin plans to triple PAC-3 production, creating additional jobs and expanding manufacturing capacity. CEO Jim Taiclet said the award could help push the company’s backlog toward approximately $300 billion, improving long-term revenue visibility. Lockheed Martin Gets a Mega Missile Contract Positive Sentiment: Escalating U.S.-Iran tensions and missile use are depleting American weapons inventories, increasing the likelihood of sustained Pentagon replenishment orders. Lockheed Martin is viewed as a key beneficiary because of its leading position in missile defense. Iran Tensions Illustrate Defense Supply Shortages Neutral Sentiment: The contract is described as “undefinitized,” meaning final terms and pricing remain subject to negotiation. Investors may therefore focus on execution, production ramp-up costs and eventual contract profitability rather than the headline value alone. Lockheed Martin’s Missile Contract Brings More Jobs, Higher Production Lockheed Martin Company Profile (Free Report)

Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT) is a global aerospace and defense company that designs, develops and manufactures advanced technology systems for government and commercial customers. Formed through the 1995 merger of Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, the company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and focuses on providing integrated solutions across air, space, land and sea domains. Its primary customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and allied governments around the world.

Lockheed Martin’s product and service portfolio spans military aircraft, missile and fire-control systems, missile defense, space systems and satellite technologies, sensors and precision weapons.

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