Lockheed Martin (LMT) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Lockheed Martin (LMT) closed at $327.37, marking a +0.34% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.42%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.15%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 2.29%.

Coming into today, shares of the aerospace and defense company had lost 1.52% in the past month. In that same time, the Aerospace sector lost 0.6%, while the S&P 500 lost 5.36%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from LMT as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be October 23, 2018. In that report, analysts expect LMT to post earnings of $4.29 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 32.41%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $13.14 billion, up 8.02% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $17.01 per share and revenue of $52.62 billion, which would represent changes of +27.61% and +3.08%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for LMT. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.43% lower within the past month. LMT currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note LMT's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 19.18. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.65.

Meanwhile, LMT's PEG ratio is currently 2.62. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Aerospace - Defense industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.64 as of yesterday's close.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 60, putting it in the top 24% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.

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