Lockheed Martin (LMT) closed the most recent trading day at $441.50, moving -1.55% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.01%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.43%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.26%.

The aerospace and defense company's shares have seen a decrease of 1.97% over the last month, surpassing the Aerospace sector's loss of 4.41% and the S&P 500's loss of 2.26%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Lockheed Martin in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $6.44, marking a 1.74% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $17.74 billion, up 3.19% from the prior-year quarter.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $27.47 per share and a revenue of $74.27 billion, signifying shifts of -3.51% and +4.55%, respectively, from the last year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Lockheed Martin. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.26% lower. At present, Lockheed Martin boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Lockheed Martin is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.33. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.77.

One should further note that LMT currently holds a PEG ratio of 2.1. 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. Aerospace - Defense stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.82 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 133, which puts it in the bottom 48% of all 250+ industries.

The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these 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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Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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