Why Lockheed Martin Stock Is Falling Today

In this quarter, Lockheed Martin (LMT) encountered excessive costs and charges, which led them to fall short of projected results. This means that they didn’t meet expectations as a defense contractor.

Investors were disappointed, sending Lockheed shares down more than 5% as of 10:30 ET Tuesday.

Charges eat into results

Lockheed Martin, known as the world’s leading defense contractor, is currently experiencing tough times. The company responsible for the production of the F-35, various helicopters, missiles, and space systems, has been left out of significant recent contracts, such as the new fighter jet program that was granted to Boeing. As a result, Lockheed Martin’s shares have decreased by approximately 14% from their annual high.

The company’s most recent financial performance isn’t doing much to change its current trend. Lockheed Martins’ Q3 earnings were $1.46 per share, with revenues totaling $18.2 billion, which fell short of the predicted earnings of $6.52 per share and revenues of $18.6 billion by analysts on Wall Street.

The earnings figure appears to be inflated due to significant losses from certain programs, notably a $950 million setback on a top-secret aerospace project. If we exclude these charges, the earnings per share would’ve been approximately $7.29 instead.

In my observation, Lockheed Martin’s free cash flow fell short as they utilized approximately $150 million, contrary to the projected $1.2 billion inflow. This discrepancy was due to the delivery of F-35 aircraft being slower than anticipated.

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Is Lockheed Martin stock a buy?

The majority of the charges were one-time expenses, however, it seems that there is no indication for investors that things will get better anytime quickly. Unfortunately, Lockheed’s book-to-bill ratio, which compares future business to current-quarter revenue, was weak at 0.8x, and none of the company’s four segments generated more business in the quarter than what they invoiced.

Lockheed Martin continues to be a dominant player in the industry, promising fresh prospects in the future. However, at present, investors might need to settle for a 3% dividend return as Lockheed navigates through these challenging circumstances.

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2025-07-22 19:26