By Rob Curran

Lockheed Martin's fourth-quarter net income fell sharply as the aerospace-and-defense giant's sales lagged expectations and as it booked multibillion-dollar charges related to classified military programs.

Lockheed also forecast adjusted earnings and sales growth for 2025.

The world's biggest military contractor posted earnings of $527 million, or $2.22 a share, down from $1.87 billion, or $7.58 a share, a year earlier.

The earnings includes $5.45 a share in charges related to classified programs.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been expecting $6.62 a share.

Sales fell 1.3% to $18.62 billion, shy of the mean analyst estimate of $18.87 billion, as per FactSet.

Aeronautics sales were bolstered by increased revenue from the F-35 jet program, amid higher production volume.

Operating earnings at the aeronautics unit fell 43% to $434 million from $761 million a year earlier. The missiles and fire-control unit swung to an operating loss of $804 million. Operating earnings fell 11% to $513 million at the rotary and mission systems unit. Operating earnings dropped 7.8% to $283 million at the space unit.

In the fourth quarter, Lockheed booked a $1.3 billion aftertax loss on classified programs at its aeronautics unit, and a $1.5 billion aftertax loss on classified programs at its missiles and fire-control unit.

For 2025, Lockheed forecast earnings in a range between $27 a share and $27.30 a share, up from $22.31 a share in 2024.

The defense contractor estimated its backlog of orders was $176 billion at the end of the year.

Lockheed targeted sales in a range between $73.75 billion and $74.75 billion for the full year, up from $71.04 billion for 2024.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 28, 2025 08:00 ET (13:00 GMT)

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