Defense Stock Roundup: Weak Global Market Takes a Toll, Lockheed Martin Wins Big

A weak broader market impeded the generous flow of funds from the Pentagon to U.S. defense contractors last week. Notably, the Wall Street took a hit on Oct 10, which reflected in the markets’ worst fall in more than eight months. Consequently, both the S&P 500 Aerospace & Defense (Industry) as well as Dow Jones U.S. Aerospace & Defense indices lost 5% in the trailing five trading days.

Among the last week’s highlights, defense majors namely Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT, General Dynamics Corp. GD, Raytheon Company RTN and The Boeing Company BA secured number of notable contracts from the Department of Defense’s daily funding session.

Recap of Past Week’s Important Stories

1.    Lockheed Martin secured a $390.8 million production contract for the 16th lot of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) from the U.S. Air Force. The contract was awarded by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida.

Per the contract, Lockheed Martin will produce 360 JASSM-extended range, three foreign military sales (FMS) separation text vehicles, one FMS flight test vehicle-live fire as well as tooling and test equipment (read more: Lockheed Martin Secures $390.8M Contract for JASSM).

The company’s business unit, Space Systems, also clinched a modification contract to provide associated system support for deployment of Trident II missiles. Work related to the deal is scheduled to be over by Feb 4, 2020.

Valued at $333.3 million, the contract was awarded by the Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C. (read more: Lockheed Wins $333M Deal to Boost Trident II Missile Program).

2.    General Dynamics’ business unit, Land Systems, won a $366.8-million modification contract for upgrading Stryker flat-bottom vehicles to the patented Double V-Hull design, per its new Proposal 1 configuration plan. The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, MI.

Work related to the deal will be performed in Sterling Heights, MI, and is expected to get completed by Apr 30, 2021 (read more: General Dynamics Wins $367M Army Deal for Upgrading Stryker).

3.     Raytheon’s Missile Systems (MS) business division secured a $395.5-million modification contract for providing full-rate production requirements and spare parts for Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), also known as the RIM-174 Standard Extended Range Active Missile. The contract was awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC (read more: Raytheon Clinches $396M Deal to Support Standard Missile-6).

4.    Boeing secured a $242.1 million contract to remanufacture eight and procure nine new-build Apache AH-64E aircraft. Work related to the deal is scheduled to be completed by Feb 28, 2023.

The contract was awarded by the U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (read more: Boeing Wins $242M Deal to Build Apache AH-64E Aircraft).

Performance

Over the past five trading sessions, defense biggies put up a disappointing show. Textron lost the most most with its share price having lost 5.8%, followed by Boing.

The industry's performance over the last six months has been mixed. Boeing gained the most with its share price rising more than 12%, while Lockheed Martin and Rockwell Collins lost.

The following table shows the price movement of the major defense players over the past five trading days and during the last six months.

Company	Last Week	Last 6 Months
LMT	-3.41%	-0.77%
BA	-5.70%	12.25%
GD	-3.91%	1.26%
RTN	-5.05%	1.73%
NOC	-2.83%	1.77%
COL	-5.07%	-0.14%
TXT	-5.87%	5.98%
LLL	-4.72%	1.53%

 

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