F-35, here are joys and pains for Lockheed Martin
Strong demand for the defense sector pushes Lockheed Martin's quarterly results beyond analysts' estimates. However, supply chain issues are still hurting F-35 production volumes. Facts, numbers and insights
Lockheed Martin's quarterly report beats Wall Street's expectations.
On April 18, the US defense giant announced its first quarter results. Lockheed Martin reported earnings per share of $6.61 on revenue of $15.1 billion, beating the analyst consensus which expected $6.07 per share on revenue of $15.05 billion.
Rising tensions in Europe, the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region translated into increased orders for Lockheed's F-35 fighter jets , missiles and other defense equipment, bringing net quarterly sales of $15.13 billion dollars above estimates of $15.03 billion, Reuters points out.
The Pentagon's $858 billion defense budget for 2023 has also brought in numerous contracts for US defense firms such as Lockheed, Raytheon Technologies, and Northrop Grumman, which view the US Department of Defense as their biggest customer.
The company then reaffirmed its guidance for 2023.
All the details.
THE NUMBERS OF THE FIRST QUARTER
The Bethesda group achieved net income of $1.69 billion in the first quarter of the year, slightly down from the $1.73 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2022. Revenue increases to $15.1 billion (+1%). Earnings per share rose to $6.61 from $6.44 a year ago. Free cash flow was also $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2023, compared to $1.1 billion in the first quarter of 2022.
ORDERS SIGNED DURING THE QUARTER
“Some of the company's notable accomplishments during the quarter included obtaining a contract for the United States' first sea-based hypersonic missile program, Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS), with delivery of the first F-16 fighter aircraft from our new Greenville, South Carolina factory,” said CEO Jim Taiclet .
Also, during the first quarter, Australia said it will buy 40 Lockheed-manufactured Black Hawk military helicopters for about $1.96 billion as it will ramp up defense spending on issues with China's presence in the Indian region. – peaceful. Still, Lockheed Martin also finalized a deal to sell 88 F-35 jets to Canada in a $14.2 billion project to replace the country's aging fleet of fighter jets.
SUPPLY CHAIN PROBLEMS
However, supply chain issues resulting from the pandemic are still hurting F-35 production volumes, reducing sales of the company's largest aviation unit by about 2.1% to 6.27 billion dollars in the quarter, Reuters points out.
And Lockheed's backlog fell to $145.1 billion at the end of the quarter from $150 billion at the end of 2022.
LOCKHEED MARTIN RETAINS GUIDANCE 2023
Finally, Lockheed reaffirmed its full-year outlook, projecting net sales of approximately $65 billion to $66 billion and earnings of between $26.60 per share and $26.90 per share.
“We remain on track to achieve our full-year 2023 financial guidance and continue our robust approach to returning capital to shareholders, with $500 million in share repurchases and $784 million in dividends paid in the first quarter. ,” the company said in a statement.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/f-35-ecco-gioie-e-doloretti-per-lockheed-martin/ on Wed, 19 Apr 2023 05:56:14 +0000.