LMT stock has seen a rise of 3% this year, underperforming the broader indices, with the S&P500 up 9% (through April 17, 2023). The company reported a 1.6% decline in sales in 2022, and it expects no growth in 2023.
However, the tensions between Ukraine and Russia have built-up momentum in the Defense sector stocks, including LMT. Furthermore, it returned over $11 billion to investors in the form of share buybacks and dividends in 2022, bolstering its stock price growth.
Lockheed Martin's Revenue rose 1% to $15.1 billion, with Space segment seeing sales growth of 16%, while all other segments saw their sales decline. Its adjusted EPS of $6.43 aligned with its prior-year quarter figure. The company expects the 2023 revenue to be between $65 and $66 billion and adjusted earnings to be between $26.60 and $26.90.
Below are the key drivers of Lockheed Martin’s value that present opportunities for upside or downside to the Trefis price estimate:
Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. It also provides a broad range of management, engineering, technical, scientific, logistics, system integration and cybersecurity services.
With the growing threat of attack from airborne missiles, missile defense systems are in demand from governments of many countries including the U.S. Lockheed possesses multiple, highly capable and efficient missile defense systems which include the Aegis, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). Sales of these systems will likely bring significant contracts and revenues to the company in the coming years.
The F-35 is a multi-role combat aircraft being developed by Lockheed Martin. The aircraft is part of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, intended to replace a wide range of existing combat aircraft in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and other countries. Over the coming years, the program is expected to occupy an even larger share of the company’s top line, driven by its planned production ramp-up.
Looking ahead, as the production of the F-35 rises in the coming years, this program will drive a significant portion of Lockheed’s value.
About 73% of Lockheed’s revenue comes from the U.S. government through its agencies such as the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and NASA. As a result of this high reliance on government spending, Lockheed is highly vulnerable to spending cuts from the U.S. government.
For example, the U.S. government may likely cap all new discretionary spending for 2023 at 2022 levels, implying a $75 billion cut in the defense budget from the $857 billion passed in the last National Defense Authorization Act. A lower government defense spending will result in reduced overall contract volume for Lockheed.
With increasing sophistication and growth in cyber attacks in recent years, IT security challenges are mounting for the U.S. government, which include cyber threats from foreign nations and terrorist organizations as well as virus/malware intrusions. We expect this trend to drive increased strengthening of the Federal IT infrastructure. This will likely maintain the demand for information systems services. Lockheed is one of the key providers of cybersecurity solutions.
