That’s how much the war in Ukraine excites the accounts of Lockheed Martin
Generous defense budget helped US military contractor beat fourth-quarter estimates, even as company forecast annual profit below Wall Street expectations
Quarterly above expectations for Lockheed Martin.
The largest defense company by sales ended the fourth quarter of 2022 with revenue of $18.99 billion, beating Refinitiv's forecast of $18.27 billion. Lockheed's earnings per share also beat expectations.
Lockheed Martin is in fact one of the major beneficiaries of the 27 billion dollars in US military aid to Ukraine , even though 'only' 6.6 billion has been contracted for now.
The company said the Pentagon is speeding up the process of purchasing weapons for Ukraine, but supply chain problems continue to slow production. Therefore, the profit in 2023 is expected between 26.60 and 26.90 dollars per share, while analysts were waiting for indications for 26.96 dollars.
Additionally, analysts have warned that defense spending could slow in 2023 after hitting record highs as the United States and its allies ramped up budgets following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, Reuters reports.
All the details.
LOCKHEED MARTIN'S REVENUES GROW
The Bethesda-based defense giant reported net revenue of $19 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, up from $17.7 billion in the same period a year earlier. Quarterly sales exceeded internal estimates by about 3% and up 7.1% compared to 2021, with the consensus at 18.28 billion.
As for the aviation unit's net sales — Lockheed Martin's largest, which produces the F-35 — rose 7% to $7.64 billion in the fourth quarter, but the segment's operating margin fell to 10.7% from 11.5% the previous year, highlights Reuters .
PROFIT BEATS EXPECTATIONS
Q4 2022 earnings also beat estimates. Lockheed Martin reported adjusted earnings of $7.79 per share for the three months ended Dec. 31, up from analyst estimates of $7.39 per share and $7.22 a year ago.
In 2022, net income was $5.7 billion, or $21.66 per share, up from $6.3 billion, or $22.76 per share, in 2021.
DECREASE CASH FLOW
Free cash flow in 2022 was $6.1 billion, up from $7.7 billion in 2021.
LOCKHEED MARTIN CAREFUL WITH THE OUTLOOK
“Lockheed Martin's stronger-than-expected year ending demonstrated the company's reliability and resilience in meeting commitments in challenging environments, while driving critical industry security advances for our nation and our allies ”, said the managing director James Taiclet.
However, the defense giant is cautious with its forecasts for the current year.
For 2023, Lockheed Martin expects revenue of $65.5 billion, up from $66 billion in 2022, compared with market estimates of $65.74 billion, with earnings per share between $26.60 and $26.90. lower than the consensus at $27.14.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/la-guerra-in-ucraina-eccita-i-conti-di-lockheed-martin/ on Wed, 25 Jan 2023 06:48:04 +0000.