Lockheed Martin delivered first-quarter earnings on Tuesday that were far above what Wall Street anticipated from the world’s largest defense contractor.
The company also updated its forecast for 2019 financial results, with earnings anticipated between $20.05 a share and $20.35 a share – up from a range of $19.15 a share to $19.45 share. Expected full year revenue was also increased, now estimated to total between $58.3 billion and $56.8 billion – up from $55.8 billion to $57.3 billion.
Shares of Lockheed Martin jumped as much as 6.3% in premarket trading after the results, up from Monday’s close of $315.26 a share.
- EPS: $5.99 a share vs. $4.34 a share expected according to Refinitiv.
- Revenue: $14.3 billion vs. $12.6 billion expected according to Refinitiv.
Lockheed added language regarding “government actions to prevent the sale or delivery of the corporation’s products” to its list of factors that may affect any forward-looking statements. The defense giant wrote that government actions include delays from Congress on export approvals for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
The contractor also wrote that trade policies or sanctions could impact business as well as the Pentagon’s recent decision to suspend sales of F-35 aircraft to Turkey.
Earlier this month, the U.S. halted delivery of two F-35 fighter jets to Turkey in order to deter Ankara from following through with a multibillion-dollar deal to buy a Russian missile system. As it stands, Turkey faces removal from Lockheed’s F-35 program, forfeiture of 100 promised F-35 jets, cancellation of a Patriot missile defense deal and the imposition of U.S. sanctions as well as potential blow back from NATO members if the deal with Russia for the S-400 missile system is completed.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.