Lockheed Martin Hits Record High After Raising 2024 Sales Target

Facts

• Aerospace and defense firm Lockheed Martin hit a record high on the stock market on Wednesday after its shares jumped further 3.5% in the wake of a Q2 earnings report that exceeded expectations.¹
• According to the results published on Tuesday, net sales in the period rose by 9% year-over-year to $18.1B.²
• This comes as the Pentagon last week resumed accepting deliveries of Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets, which account for nearly one-third of the company's revenue.³
• The US Dept. of Defense had paused the purchase of Technology Refresh-3 (TR-3) configured jets since July last year, as the new software and hardware update to the aircraft has encountered issues that are still another year away from resolution.⁴
• Bloomberg News reported last August that the Pentagon was withholding payments of $7M each for the first four upgraded F-35s until the delay-plagued software was able to fully work with new cockpit hardware.⁵
• Lockheed Martin's projected sales have also been boosted by a Congress-approved $95B additional funding that includes aid to Israel and Ukraine, as their ongoing conflicts have driven demand for munitions — including Lockheed's Patriot air defense missiles.³

Sources: ¹Investor's Business Daily, ²Lockheed Martin, ³Reuters, ⁴The Hill and ⁵Bloomberg.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by New York Times. A strong defense industry in America has effectively two purposes — job creation and assistance to allies and partners needing support such as Israel, Taiwan, and Ukraine. While it's fair to say that Lockheed Martin has won billions with conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine so far, the company offers a strategic advantage to Washington.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Foreign Policy In Focus. There's a bad-faith bipartisan claim in America that spending on weapons boosts the economy and creates jobs. Let alone the moral aspect of companies making profits from conflict abroad, that assertion is simply not true. Rather than spending heavily on a new generation of deadly weapons, the US should invest in the civilian sector to improve the quality of life for its citizens.

Predictions