Lockheed Martin Corporation
(
LMT
) has received two production contracts totaling $161.7 million
from the U.S. Army to continue the upgrades of the Modernized
Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor
(M-TADS/PNVS) program for the Apache attack helicopter.
Per the contracts, Lockheed would supply 482 Modernized Day
Sensor Assembly (M-DSA) Modernized Laser Rangefinder Designator
(M-LRFD) kits and spares. Earlier in Feb 2012, the U.S. Army had
ordered 92 M-DSA M-LRFD kits and spares, and the first of those
units will be delivered in 2013.
With the addition of these contracts, production at Lockheed
Martin's facilities in Ocala and Orlando, Florida, will be
sustained through third quarter 2016.
Lockheed Martin is the largest U.S. defense contractor with a
platform-centric focus and a steady inflow of follow-on orders
due to its leveraged presence in the Army, Air Force, Navy and IT
programs. However, the ongoing trend of governmental delays in
program decisions and even program cancellations has affected the
fortunes of the defense industry in general and Lockheed Martin
in particular.
Lockheed Martin finished 2012 with $82.3 billion of order
backlog, including $19.8 billion of new orders booked in the
fourth quarter. Of this $30.1 billion belonged to the Aeronautics
segment and $18.1 billion to the Space Systems segment. The rest
is made up of $14.7 billion for the Missiles and Fire Control
segment; $10.7 billion for Mission Systems and Training; and $8.7
billion for the Information Systems & Global Solutions.
Lockheed Martin is a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock. The past 30
days have seen 10 of the 11 earnings estimates for full year 2013
moving up despite an industry-wide threat of budget cutbacks and
effects of sequestration.
In the aerospace and defense industry we presently prefer the
Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stock,
European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company
(
EADSY
), as well as the Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stocks
Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc.
(
HII
) and
FLIR Systems, Inc.
(
FLIR
).
(EADSY): ETF Research Reports
FLIR SYSTEMS (FLIR): Free Stock Analysis
Report
HUNTINGTON INGL (HII): Free Stock Analysis
Report
LOCKHEED MARTIN (LMT): Free Stock Analysis
Report
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