Lockheed Martin (LMT) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know
Lockheed Martin (LMT) closed at $354.98 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.23% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.64% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.14%.
Coming into today, shares of the aerospace and defense company had lost 1.99% in the past month. In that same time, the Aerospace sector gained 1.23%, while the S&P 500 gained 3.19%.
LMT will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect LMT to post earnings of $6.41 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 21.17%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $17 billion, up 7.07% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $24.48 per share and revenue of $65.35 billion, which would represent changes of +11.53% and +9.25%, respectively, from the prior year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for LMT. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. LMT is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, LMT currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 14.47. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 16.25.
Investors should also note that LMT has a PEG ratio of 2.18 right now. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. Aerospace - Defense stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.18 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 229, putting it in the bottom 11% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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