Lockheed Martin On the Road to Recovery, Improved Free Cash Flow Visibility

  Image: Heath Cajandig By Brian Nelson, CFA It was late October 2021 when Lockheed Martin (LMT) took a “big bath” of a third quarter. Back then, Lockheed Martin said it expected 2022 net sales to fall from 2021 levels, to ~$66 billion. At the time, we had been expecting revenue to advance to north of $70 billion during 2022, so the change in trajectory was quite pronounced. Its backlog fell to $134.8 billion from $147.1 billion on a year-over-year basis in the quarter, too. To say that the market was surprised in October would be an understatement because LMT’s stock fell double-digits following the news. Fast forward a few months, and Lockheed Martin is working to get things back … Read more

Large Cap Growth Has More Room To Run

“The stylistic area of large cap growth has been one of our favorite areas because of the strong net cash rich, free cash flow generating, secular growth powerhouses that make up much of the space. The image is a rundown of the key Valuentum statistics for the top 15 holdings of the Schwab U.S. Large Cap Growth ETF (SCHG). We believe where large cap growth goes, so does the broader market, considering the hefty weightings of some of these stocks in other broad-based indices. Based on the high end of our fair value estimate range for this group of bellwethers, the broader U.S. markets still have room to run, to the tune of 7%+, despite the many highs already reached … Read more

Lockheed Martin Shocks the Market

Image: After years of backlog growth at Lockheed Martin, the third quarter of 2021 revealed a sharp year-over-year decline to the tune of ~8.3%. The company’s outlook also left a lot to be desired. By Brian Nelson, CFA Lockheed Martin (LMT) reported mixed third-quarter 2021 results Tuesday, October 26, but “mixed” might be too gracious of a word. Though it did beat the consensus number for third-quarter non-GAAP earnings per share, revenue didn’t just miss marginally, but by more than a $1 billion, with the top line falling 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Clearly, Lockheed had promised more than it could deliver, and we had been taken in by the optimism. We expect to lower our fair value estimate. There’s … Read more

Lockheed Martin Boosts Guidance

Image Source: Lockheed Martin Corporation – First Quarter of Fiscal 2021 IR Earnings Presentation By Callum Turcan Geopolitical tensions are on the rise worldwide. In recent weeks, Russian forces started massing on the border with Ukraine (though reportedly, those forces are beginning to pull back) as acrimony between Western governments and Russia continues to grow while the situation in Ukraine (i.e., Russia’s annexation of Crimea and involvement in eastern regions of Ukraine) remains in paralysis. Tensions between the US and China are building as well with an eye towards trading relations, espionage of all kinds, and cyber-attacks. The geopolitical backdrop indicates that the trajectory of defense spending is likely to continue growing in key developed and developing nations worldwide going … Read more

Stock Market Outlook for 2021

By Valuentum Analysts February 8, 2021 2020 was one for the history books. We covered our thoughts and reflections on the past year in our “2020 Won’t Soon Be Forgotten” article (link here), and now we are looking towards the future. Global health authorities should be able to bring an end to the ongoing coronavirus (‘COVID-19’) pandemic sooner than many had expected as several vaccines have already been improved for emergency use and several others appear increasingly likely to get approved. Global vaccine distribution activities are currently underway, and this should allow the world to slowly return to pre-pandemic activities. Before then, immense stimulus measures launched primarily in developed nations should support global economic activities until the public health crisis … Read more