What Should Lockheed Martin Stock Holders Take From Its Third-Quarter Report?

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Lockheed Martin (LMT) stock rose 7.0% on October 22, 2026, the day the company reported its fiscal Q3 2026 results, while the S&P 500 fell 1.2%. Quarterly sales of $20.7 billion matched what analysts expected, but the order book delivered the bigger change for holders. So how much did that order book grow, and how much of it reached the 2026 sales forecast?

Lockheed Built Record Backlog But Barely Raised Its Forecast

Lockheed ended the quarter with a record backlog of $292 billion, up $113 billion from a year earlier. Management said new orders in the quarter amounted to four times sales. A seven-year PAC-3 contract was the largest contributor, with the company saying that $52.5 billion of the backlog is tied to that award.

Yet the 2026 sales forecast barely moved. Lockheed raised the midpoint to $81 billion, up from $80.8 billion in July. Earnings per share of $7.97 beat the $7.50 analysts expected, and management raised its full-year earnings and cash forecasts as well.

Other defense makers moved far less on the day of the report, with Northrop Grumman rising 2.4% and Boeing falling 2.5%. By October 26, Lockheed shares were up 15.2% from the close before the report, compared with a 1.0% fall for the S&P 500. Holders got a quarter in which the order book grew far faster than Lockheed’s 2026 sales forecast did.

Is Lockheed Martin’s Growth More Than One Quarter?

Lockheed’s growth has picked up over twelve months, although not in every quarter. Third-quarter sales rose 11.3% from a year earlier, following a 10.5% gain in the second quarter. Over the four quarters to September 27, 2026, sales rose 7.9%, against 2.9% in the four quarters a year before. Earlier in the year, sales in fiscal Q1 2026 were almost flat, rising 0.3% from a year earlier.

Missiles and Fire Control, the segment ramping up munitions production, has grown fastest. Sales for the unit rose 24% in fiscal Q3 2026. That followed 13.6% growth in fiscal 2025, which made it the fastest-growing of Lockheed’s four segments that year. Management expects that segment to keep growing at a mid-teens rate a year over the next five years.

For the whole company, management said on the call that it sees high single-digit sales growth in 2027, with all four segments growing. That remains management’s view rather than a formal forecast: Lockheed has not given specific guidance for 2027.

What Lockheed Martin Holders Will Learn In January

In January, holders will get Lockheed’s first forecast for 2027. Management said on the October 22 call that it does not give next-year guidance until then.

The timing of the next F-35 lot contracts remains open as well, even after a broader deal was announced. News reports on October 22 said Lockheed and the Pentagon had struck an initial deal to produce 850 F-35 jets, an agreement management said sets the path to 850 U.S. jets over 10 years. Yet management trimmed its 2026 forecast for Aeronautics, the segment that builds the F-35, slightly below its July guidance, because it now expects the next F-35 lots to be awarded later. Signing Lot 20 in 2026 would lift nearly all of its 2026 figures, and the forecast does not count on it, management said.

When Lockheed reports in January 2027, its 2027 sales forecast is the figure to watch.

How To Act On LMT?

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