Lockheed Martin Clinches $507M PAC-3 Missile Production Deal

Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT recently secured a $506.9-million modification contract to produce Phased Array Tracking to Intercept of Target (PATRIOT) Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, AL.

Per the deal, Lockheed Martin will provide incidental services, hardware testing and other technical services for the production of PATRIOT missiles. Work related to the deal will be performed in Grand Prairie, TX and is scheduled to get completed by Dec 31, 2024.

What’s Favoring Lockheed Martin?

Lockheed Martin’s PAC-3 team achieved several notable milestones throughout 2018, and owing to its rapid growing popularity, similar trends are expected in 2019 as well. Recently, the company's Missiles and Fire Control unit secured a PAC-3 Award to deliver more than 450 interceptors, launcher modification kits and other associated equipment to the U.S. Army and international customers. Inevitably, such massive order inflows for its PAC-3 missiles tend to boost the company’s top line.

Furthermore, midway last year, the fiscal 2019 U.S. defense budget provisioned for a spending plan of $6 billion for varied missile programs. Since then, Lockheed Martin has successfully secured a number of major contracts related to missile development. The company is expected to gain significantly from such favorable budgetary provision in the days ahead.

Looking Ahead

Per Markets and Markets research firm, the global rocket and missile market is projected to rise from $55.5 billion in 2017 to $70 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 4.74%. Given this huge opportunity for expansion, the need for developing complexed technologies for different variants of missiles, including PATRIOT, will also grow. Such projections will certainly benefit U.S. defense giant and top missile maker, Lockheed Martin in the future.

Price Performance

Shares of Lockheed Martin have dropped about 9.9% in a year compared with the industry’s decline of 3.9%.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks    

Lockheed Martin currently carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the same sector are The Boeing Company BA, Spirit Aerosystems Holdings SPR and HEICO Corporation HEI.

While Boeing and Spirit Aerosystems sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Heico carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Boeing came up with average positive earnings surprise of 17.08% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings has risen 11.3% to $20.13 in the past 90 days.

Spirit Aerosystems’ long-term growth estimates currently stand at 7.80%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings has increased 3.7% to $7.56 in the past 90 days.

HEICO Corporation’s long-term growth estimates currently stand at 12.10%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings has risen 7% to $2.14 in the past 90 days.

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