By Michael Calia
Lockheed Martin Corp. offered a downbeat profit outlook for the
year while the defense contractor posted growth in profit and
revenue.
The company's earnings for the most recent quarter missed
analysts' expectations, but sales surpassed them.
For the new year, the company said it expected $10.80 to $11.10
a share in earnings on $43.5 billion to $45 billion in sales.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting $11.49 in
per-share earnings and $44.26 billion in revenue.
The company had said in October that it expected sales to
decline in 2015 at a low single-digit rate even amid industry
expectations that the U.S. Defense Department's budget had
stabilized.
Lockheed's results and outlook Tuesday come at a precarious time
for defense contractors, which have sought to reduce spending and
jobs as budget cuts from the Pentagon have curbed demand.
Lockheed, for its part, has sought to diversify its offerings in
energy and aquaculture, producing items from fish farms to
water-desalinating devices, to buffer the impact from the defense
cuts.
The company said its profit for the most recent quarter was $904
million, or $2.82 a share, compared with $488 million, or $1.50 a
share, a year earlier. The company recorded a charge related to its
missiles and fire control segment that reflected lower demand for
services and troop levels have been drawn down, Lockheed said.
Revenue rose 8.6% to $12.53 billion.
Analysts had recently estimated $2.85 a share in earnings and
$11.89 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Reuters.
The company's biggest division, aeronautics, drove much of the
company's growth in the period, with sales rising 6.1% to $4.14
billion. Missiles and fire control posted 17% growth to $2.01
billion. Also contributing to the top-line increase were the
mission systems and training and space systems units.
Write to Michael Calia at michael.calia@wsj.com
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