In the latest market close, Lockheed Martin (LMT) reached $442.07, with a +1.63% movement compared to the previous day. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a gain of 0.16% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.01%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.46%.

The aerospace and defense company's shares have seen a decrease of 1.2% over the last month, not keeping up with the Aerospace sector's gain of 5.69% and outstripping the S&P 500's loss of 3.59%.

Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Lockheed Martin in its upcoming earnings disclosure. In that report, analysts expect Lockheed Martin to post earnings of $6.42 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 1.42%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $17.74 billion, indicating a 3.19% upward movement from the same quarter last year.

For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $27.15 per share and a revenue of $74.27 billion, signifying shifts of -4.64% and +4.55%, respectively, from the last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Lockheed Martin. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-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 suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Lockheed Martin currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Lockheed Martin is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.02. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 21.66 of its industry.

One should further note that LMT currently holds a PEG ratio of 2.06. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. LMT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.88 as of yesterday's close.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 142, this industry ranks in the bottom 44% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.

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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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