Leading U.S. defense contractor, Lockheed Martin Corp.’s (NYSE:LMT) CEO, Jim Taiclet, expressed optimism regarding President Donald Trump’s ambitious “Golden Dome For America” initiative, and said that the company was well-positioned to contribute.
LMT shares are experiencing downward pressure. Get the inside scoop here.
We’re ‘Ready And Well-Positioned’
During its third-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, Taiclet said that the company was “ready and well positioned with existing products, expertise and production capabilities” to support the Homeland Defense mission, which includes Trump’s much-touted Golden Dome missile defense system.
Lockheed said that it has already begun investing internally to prepare for the opportunity when it eventually arrives. “We're actually planning for a real on-orbit space-based interceptor demonstration by 2028,” Taiclet said, pointing to one of several advanced prototyping efforts underway.
See Also: What’s Driving the Market Sentiment Around Lockheed Martin Corp?
He added that the company's Center for Innovation in Virginia is hosting development of a command and control prototype “fusing existing and new C2 capabilities from seabed to space.”
Despite this, Taiclet noted that without a clear “mission technology roadmap” and budget allocations from the government, it’s still too early to estimate the total value of the program. “Until that's all laid out, we actually won't have any sense of where the budget is being allocated,” he said.
Golden Dome Vision To Add To Record Backlogs
Lockheed Martin reported a record $179 billion order backlog, which only stands to expand as the Golden Dome initiative and its related projects start to materialize.
During its second-quarter results three months ago, the company had said that it was “all-in” on the initiative, while noting that there were still no contracts. Taiclet had mentioned that the company was already “talking about architecture with the U.S. government as to how you might architect and lay something like this out over time.”
The company released its third-quarter results on Tuesday, reporting $18.6 billion in revenue, up 9% year-over-year, and ahead of consensus estimates at $18.5 billion.
Profits during the quarter stood at $6.95 per share, up from $6.80 the prior year, and ahead of analyst estimates at $6.35 per share.
Lockheed Martin’s shares were down 3.24% on Tuesday, closing at $489.50, but are up 0.15% in overnight trade. The stock does poorly in Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings, with low scores across the board, but has a favorable price trend in the short, medium and long terms. Click here for deeper insights on the stock, its peers and competitors.
Read More:
Photo Courtesy: JHVEPhoto on Shutterstock.com
