Lockheed Martin (LMT) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

Lockheed Martin (LMT) closed at $339.17 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.23% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.07%. At the same time, the Dow added 1.4%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.49%.

Heading into today, shares of the aerospace and defense company had lost 0.53% over the past month, outpacing the Aerospace sector's loss of 5.79% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.08% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Lockheed Martin as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Lockheed Martin is projected to report earnings of $8.04 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 26.02%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $17.81 billion, up 4.55% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $23.37 per share and revenue of $67.23 billion, which would represent changes of -4.61% and +2.81%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Lockheed Martin. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Lockheed Martin currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Lockheed Martin is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.55. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.97, which means Lockheed Martin is trading at a discount to the group.

Also, we should mention that LMT has a PEG ratio of 4.09. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Aerospace - Defense industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.75 as of yesterday's close.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 196, putting it in the bottom 23% 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.

To follow LMT in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.