Latest news with #LRASM
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT): A Bull Case Theory
We came across a bullish thesis on Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) on Substack by Steve Wagner. In this article, we will summarize the bulls' thesis on LMT. Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT)'s share was trading at $466.81 as of April 24th. LMT's trailing and forward P/E were 20.12 and 17.15 respectively according to Yahoo Finance. Copyright: scanrail / 123RF Stock Photo Lockheed Martin (LMT) delivered an impressive first-quarter 2025 performance, reinforcing its reputation as a reliable and well-managed defense compounder. Revenues grew 4% year-over-year to $18 billion, while net earnings climbed to $1.7 billion, translating to an EPS of $7.28 compared to $6.39 in Q1 2024. All four of the company's business segments saw improved operating margins, with Missiles & Fire Control notably increasing its margin from 10.4% to 13.8%, helping drive a 19% boost in segment operating profit. Free cash flow stood at a strong $955 million, and Lockheed's order backlog remained at a formidable ~$173 billion—equivalent to more than two years of revenue—underscoring the resilience of its long-term demand pipeline. Alongside earnings, Lockheed reaffirmed its full-year 2025 guidance, expecting ~$74 billion in sales and $27 in EPS, demonstrating management's confidence in navigating what it described as a "highly dynamic geopolitical and technical environment." Recent contract wins provide concrete support for that optimism, with the company securing major new awards across its missile systems portfolio—including Precision Strike, THAAD, and JASSM/LRASM programs—as well as a significant Trident II award. These contracts, totaling up to $10 billion in potential future revenue, add further strength to the already robust backlog and enhance visibility into long-term growth. In a move that underscores its commitment to maintaining technological leadership, Lockheed also announced the acquisition of Amentum's Rapid Solutions business. This bolt-on acquisition expands Lockheed's capabilities in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), advanced communications, and tactical systems—particularly through assets like electronically steered array technologies. Though not transformational in size, the acquisition is strategically sound, providing Lockheed with niche technical capabilities that align well with its broader defense technology portfolio. The integration of Rapid Solutions into the Space segment will deepen Lockheed's ISR expertise and further support its mission to deliver next-generation solutions for high-priority defense applications. Taken together, Lockheed's first quarter results and its strategic acquisition strengthen the company's investment case. Execution remains tight, the balance sheet is healthy, and guidance is solid. Management's focus on backlog conversion, operational discipline, and incremental innovation suggest a durable growth trajectory. While not flashy, the Amentum acquisition adds depth to Lockheed's ISR suite and marginally widens its long-term runway in advanced defense technology. For investors, this is a clear reaffirmation of Lockheed's strength as a steady compounder with a growing technological edge. Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) is not on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 65 hedge fund portfolios held LMT at the end of the fourth quarter which was 58 in the previous quarter. While we acknowledge the risk and potential of LMT as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than LMT but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock. Disclosure: None. This article was originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Asia Times
21-04-2025
- Business
- Asia Times
Hollow HALO: US admits defeat in hypersonic missile program
The US Navy has killed its next-generation hypersonic missile, slamming the brakes on a once-promising development program amid soaring costs, shaky performance and China's growing arsenal. This month, Naval News reported that the US Navy has terminated its Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive (HALO) missile initiative, originally part of the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare Increment 2 (OASuW Inc 2) program, citing insurmountable budgetary issues and underperformance. Rear Admiral Stephen Tedford, the US Navy's program executive officer for unmanned aviation and strike weapons, confirmed the cancellation occurred in the autumn of 2024 after a fiscal analysis deemed the system financially and operationally unviable. HALO was slated for 'early operational capability' (EOC) by FY29 and 'initial operational capability' by FY31, intending to counter high-value surface targets from standoff distances. Instead, Lockheed Martin's Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), a component of OASuW Increment 1, will undergo significant hardware and software upgrades to bolster precision and effectiveness. Tedford underscored the US Navy's commitment to long-range weapons, prioritizing existing systems to align with national defense objectives. Industry insiders, including Northrop Grumman executives, signaled HALO's challenges during the Sea Air Space 2025 expo, with feasibility and cost concerns dominating discussions. The decision to abandon the HALO program reflects broader fiscal and strategic recalibrations within America's munitions industrial base and highlights the challenges in developing exotic, high-cost systems amid tightening defense budgets. It may also highlight the US military's incapacity for rapid, high-speed, precision strikes against heavily defended naval targets. In a March 2025 Atlantic Council report, Michael White highlights that capability, stating that a subsonic missile such as Tomahawk or the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) would take one hour to reach a target 800 kilometers away, while a hypersonic cruise missile can hit the target in less than 10 minutes. White also mentions that a hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) can make the trip between Guam and the Taiwan Strait in under 30 minutes. Asia Times has previously noted that the Harpoon anti-ship missile's short range of 128 kilometers for standard models, lack of speed or stealth to penetrate modern shipboard defenses and paucity of launch platforms other than carrier-based aircraft forces US Navy air carriers dangerously close to battle zones, putting these valuable assets at risk. This situation narrows the US Navy's tactical options for striking modern warships at long distances. However, Asia Times has pointed out that stealthy anti-ship missiles such as LRASM offer distinct advantages over hypersonic weapons by combining low radar cross-sections and minimal infrared signatures with advanced semi-autonomous guidance systems. These features ensure survivability and precision in heavily contested electromagnetic warfare (EW) environments, where reliance on external intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) platforms might be compromised. The LRASM's stealth attributes make it harder to detect and intercept. In contrast, hypersonic weapons can create detectable plasma wakes and light emissions. The capability to share data and execute coordinated swarm attacks further enhances LRASM's effectiveness. Its stealth and autonomous targeting capabilities offer effective tactical solutions, offsetting some lost advantages from HALO's cancellation. Yet, at the operational level, HALO's cancellation risks creating a capability gap to defeat anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) strategies. A January 2023 report by the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) mentions that hypersonic weapons, launched beyond the reach of A2/AD systems with their atmospheric flight profile, enable them to evade midcourse missile defenses designed to intercept targets in space. According to the report, by flying lower and maneuvering unpredictably, hypersonic missiles complicate detection and interception by ship-based and short-range defenses, potentially neutralizing coastal air defenses, over-the-horizon (OTH) radars and strike systems early in a conflict. However, despite those advantages, a weak US hypersonic weapons industrial base may preclude the widespread adoption of such weapons. A report released this month by the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) mentions that the US Department of Defense (DOD) has not yet established programs of record, indicating a lack of approved mission requirements or long-term acquisition plans for hypersonic weapons. It also points out that the US testing infrastructure remains limited, with no current US facility able to simulate full-scale, time-dependent flight environments above Mach 8. Additionally, it says flight test schedules are continually hampered by limited hypersonic flight corridors, insufficient test ranges and limited support assets, hindering efforts to transition hypersonic prototypes into deployable weapons systems. In contrast, the LRASM may have a more mature production base. In an April 2023 article for Air & Space Forces Magazine, Chris Gordon mentions that Lockheed Martin is producing more than 500 LRASMs and JASSMs a year, with the defense contractor working to increase capacity to 1,000 missiles annually. In the same article, Dom DeScisciolo mentions that the LRASM and JASSM share many components and are built on the same production lines. DeScisciolo notes the missiles are designated as either type depending on customer demand. Strategically, canceling HALO undermines the US Navy's efforts to maintain technological parity or superiority with competitors like China and Russia, which are aggressively advancing hypersonic missile programs. Russia has already used hypersonic weapons in combat against Ukraine, though their effectiveness and overall impact on the ongoing war of attrition between the two are debatable. Similarly, China fielded the DF-17 HGV missile system in 2019 and tested an HGV that reportedly circled the globe before cruising to its target in August 2021. In contrast, despite intensive testing, the US has yet to field any hypersonic weapon. In a March 2024 statement for the US House Armed Services Committee, Jeffrey McCormick mentions that China now has the world's leading hypersonic arsenal, underscoring China's advances in hypersonic weapon technology. McCormick says two decades of intense and focused investment, development, testing and deployment have dramatically advanced China's development of conventional and nuclear-armed hypersonic missile technologies. However, some argue hypersonic weapons are overhyped and no better than existing weapons. In a March 2024 article for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, David Wright and Cameron Tracy argue that existing weapons, such as ballistic missiles, already fly at hypersonic speed and that drag from low-altitude atmospheric flight could slow hypersonic weapons down more than ballistic missiles on a depressed trajectory. Wright and Tracy mention that hypersonic weapons emit substantial heat signatures during launch and flight, which could be detected early by satellites and other ground-based sensors, enabling potential interception. They also say hypersonic weapons have limited maneuverability, as immense force is required to change direction at such speeds and scramjet engine technology for that purpose is still immature. In terms of accuracy, they point out that the same guidance systems in hypersonic weapons can be used in maneuvering missile warheads (MARVs) and that the latter fly high enough to avoid the in-flight heating problems associated with the former. In line with those views, Wright and Tracy say that while the US can not yet build functional hypersonic weapons, it stands to question whether those weapons make military and fiscal sense, regardless of whether its near-peer adversaries build them.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Navy Axes Its Hypersonic Anti-Ship Cruise Missile Plans
The U.S. Navy has halted plans to acquire an air-launched, air-breathing hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile, citing cost and industrial base factors. The service says it is now taking a second look at its requirements with a new focus on affordability. The Navy's work toward the acquisition of what it had dubbed the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) missile traces back to at least 2021. The service previously described it as a critical capability that needed to be fielded before 2030. Naval News was first to report that the plans for HALO, also known as the Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare Increment 2 (OASuW Inc 2), have now changed. 'The Navy cancelled the solicitation for the Hypersonic Air-Launched Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (HALO) Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) effort in fall 2024 due to budgetary constraints that prevent fielding new capability within the planned delivery schedule,' Navy Capt. Ron Flanders, a spokesperson for the service, told TWZ today. 'The decision was made after the Navy conducted a careful analysis, looking at cost trends and program performance across the munitions industrial base compared to the Navy's priorities and existing fiscal commitments.' 'We are working closely with our resource sponsors to revalidate the requirements, with an emphasis on affordability,' Flanders continued. 'The Navy is committed to its investment in Long Range Fires to meet National Defense objectives, with priority emphasis on fielding continued capability improvements to the AGM-158C Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).' Lockheed Martin's LRASM, originally developed as OASuW Increment 1 and based on the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) design, is a highly capable stealthy anti-ship cruise missile, but it is also a subsonic design. A subvariant with significantly extended range and other upgrades is now in development, as you can read more about here. It's also worth noting here that the Navy has fielded an air-launched version of the multi-purpose Standard Missile-6 (SM-6), called the AIM-174B. When surface-launched, SM-6 can be employed against aerial threats, as well as targets at sea and on land. It is possible that AIM-174B could be used as a high-speed anti-ship missile, as well. The Navy had awarded initial HALO contracts to Raytheon and Lockheed Martin in 2023, though details about the designs that either company had been working on as part of this effort remain scant. However, they are both widely believed to be powered by advanced ramjet or scramjet engines. Both companies also notably took part in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Hypersonic Airbreathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) program, which was run in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force. Raytheon was part of a team that also included Northrop Grumman. HAWC subsequently fed into the Air Force's Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program. Raytheon, working again with Northrop Grumman, has been under contract to develop HACM since 2022. The Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornets were expected to be the first aircraft armed with HALO. The service had also previously indicated that HALO could evolve into a ship and submarine-launched weapon after its initial introduction as an air-launched munition. 'OASuW Inc 2/HALO will be a carrier-suitable, higher-speed, longer-range, air-launched weapon system providing superior Anti-Surface Warfare capabilities. The program is part of the Navy's Long Range Fires investment approach to meet objectives of the National Defense Strategy,' Navy Capt. Richard Gensley, then Precision Strike Weapons (PMA-201) program manager within Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), told TWZ just last June. 'As a key component of this strategy, OASuW Inc 2/HALO addresses advanced threats from engagement distances that allow the Navy to operate in, and control, contested battle space in littoral waters and Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) environments.' Previous Navy budget documents had also described HALO as being essential to help 'counter the evolving near-peer threat capability.' Russia and China have both been actively developing and fielding a growing number of hypersonic and otherwise high-speed anti-ship missiles that can be launched from air, sea, and ground-based platforms. This includes air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles, most prominently Russia's Zircon, and anti-ship ballistic missiles. Hypersonic speed is typically defined as anything above Mach 5. What has now happened to the HALO effort is the latest high-profile stumble for hypersonic weapons developments across the U.S. military while potential adversaries continue to make progress in this realm. The status of the Air Force's AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) remains murky following the ostensible end of work on that program last year. The Army's Dark Eagle hypersonic missile program has also been beset by delays, with the service only conducting its first successful launch of that weapon from a trailer-based launcher in December 2024 after years of setbacks. Dark Eagle is the Army end of a joint program with the U.S. Navy, which is set to eventually see the same missiles integrated into Zumwalt class stealth destroyers and Block V Virginia class submarines. The Navy refers to its portion of that program as the Intermediate Range Conventional Prompt Strike (IRCPS) weapon system. ARRW, Dark Eagle, and IRCPS are also unpowered boost-glide vehicle hypersonic weapons, which are in an entirely different category from air-breathing hypersonic cruise missiles, as you can read more about here. Questions have also been raised about potential risks with the Air Force's HACM program. In 2023, the Air Force said it was canceling ARRW to refocus resources on HACM, though significant testing of the AGM-183A continued afterward. HACM is also directly intertwined with U.S.-Australian cooperation on hypersonic weapons through the Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) program. In addition, the Navy's citing of cost and industry factors as contributing to the cancellation of the HALO solicitation last year underscores broader issues facing the U.S. military. Concerns are steadily growing about the ability of America's armed forces to bolster stockpiles of key precision munitions, as well as sustain those inventories during any future protracted high-end fight, such as one in the Pacific against China. Ongoing campaigns against threats emanating from Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, as well as in the broader defense of Israel, are already seeing munition expenditure rates that are causing growing alarm, including from the U.S. military itself. There is now steadily growing interest in lower-cost precision munitions across the board, but these are intended to supplement, not supplant more exquisite capabilities like what the Navy had hoped to acquire with HALO. How the Navy's air-launched hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile ambitions now evolve, and what more affordable pathways to a relevant capability there might be, remain to be seen. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Lockheed Martin Secures a Contract to Manufacture LRASM
Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT recently secured a modification contract valued at $13.3 million for the production of Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile's (LRASM) ninth lot. The award has been provided by the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, work related to this deal will be carried out in Orlando, FL, and is projected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2028. The latest modification brings the total value of the contract to $5.19 billion. Lockheed Martin's LRASM is a precision-guided intelligent anti-ship missile designed to prevent a variety of surface threats at very long ranges. It can navigate semi-autonomously to a target and deliver a precise payload from a safe standoff notable features must have enabled Lockheed Martin to secure a number of contracts for these missiles from the Pentagon and other U.S. allies, the latest contract being an example of that. Rising military conflicts, terrorism and border disputes have led nations to increase their focus on national security, particularly on missile defense systems, backed by the rapid development of advanced missile technologies over the last is likely to have prompted the Mordor Intelligence firm to forecast a compound annual growth rate of 5% for the global missiles and missile defense systems market during the 2025-2030 time market projections offer solid growth opportunities for Lockheed Martin, with its Missile and Fire Control unit being a recognized developer of high-performance missiles. The unit pursues business in more than 50 countries worldwide. Some of its major programs are the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) air and missile defense programs, in addition to the LRASM. Other defense companies that are likely to enjoy the perks of the expanding global missiles and missile defense system market have been discussed Grumman Corporation NOC: Northrop Grumman provides high-speed, long-range strike weapons like the AARGM-ER, which is a supersonic, air-launched tactical missile system. It also develops and builds advanced missile defense technology, ranging from command systems to directed energy weapons, advanced munitions and powerful company's long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 4.2%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NOC's 2025 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 3%.RTX Corporation RTX: It is known for its missile defense systems like the Patriot and SM-6, which are in high demand globally. RTX also provides advanced sensors and interceptors to identify, track and defeat threats as part of a layered missile company's long-term earnings growth rate is 9.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RTX's 2025 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 4.4%.The Boeing Company BA: It manufactures various missile defense systems, including the Ground-based Midcourse Defense, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense and Avenger. Boeing-built and supported air and missile defense systems have been protecting its customers for nearly 25 years against threats ranging from intercontinental ballistic missiles to hostile company has a long-term earnings growth rate of 17.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BA's 2025 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 25.7%. Shares of LMT have lost 0.2% in the past year against the industry's 13.3% growth. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research LMT currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) : Free Stock Analysis Report RTX Corporation (RTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Is the U.S. Air Force Buying $1.9 Billion in New Missiles From Lockheed Martin?
Big contract announcements at the U.S. Pentagon can clue investors in to the potential for lucrative stock wins from the companies that win those contracts. It doesn't always work this way, but it does sometimes. That's why I'm paying attention now to one of the biggest weapons contracts announced by the Department of Defense in recent weeks: A March 13 order from the Air Force instructing Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to proceed with production of order "Lot 23" of the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and also order "Lot 9" of the Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM), and to prepare for subsequent lots as well. Both these missile types have been requested by Ukraine for use in its defensive war against Russia. Additionally, both weapons systems fit within the Pentagon's plans to improve the United States' long-range strike capabilities in the Pacific theater. The Pentagon did not specify precisely how many missiles Lockheed will be building, and amounts appear to vary from lot to lot. However, a 2023 Defense Department document described the sizes of production lots as ranging from 550 to 810 missiles per JASSM lot, and from 120 to 240 missiles per LRASM lot. We also know much more precisely what the Pentagon plans to pay for these missiles: $1.9 billion. The Pentagon's contract announcement also clarifies that the production lots in question are part of a bigger rearmament project that has the Air Force ordering $5.2 billion worth of the missiles in total. And with three more production lots each anticipated for both the JASSM and the LRASM, it's likely the size of this contract -- and its value to Lockheed Martin -- will continue to grow. But precisely how much can contracts like these move the needle at a giant defense company like Lockheed, which did $71 billion in defense business last year, and recorded more than $5.3 billion in profits from it? That's actually harder to determine than you might think. Most years, Lockheed Martin's missiles and fire control division (MFC) is a pretty great business. From 2019 through 2023, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, MFC rang up $7.8 billion in operating profit on $58.7 billion in revenue, earning an outstanding 13.3% operating profit margin on this part of its business. In the final quarter of 2024, however, something went seriously awry at MFC. Without warning, the company took an $804 million charge to earnings for this division -- and only this division. All on its own, this charge drove a 23% year-over-year decline in Lockheed's annual profit for 2024, despite revenues rising 5% last year, and MFC revenues in particular rising 13%. Lockheed blamed the decline on "$1.4 billion in losses on a classified program," about which it would say no more. Presumably, JASSM and LRASM are not part of this classified program ... because, well, we know what these missiles are called. They're not classified. And if these particular missiles are unconnected to what required Lockheed to take that charge last quarter, it makes sense to assume that higher production rates of them would still be good news for Lockheed, and that MFC will continue to produce its enviably high 13.3% operating profit margins for Lockheed Martin shareholders. At $1.9 billion in revenue, the two lots of missiles in question should contribute more than $250 million to Lockheed Martin's annual profit. I wouldn't necessarily call this an incremental increase in profits, however. As just two lots in a long string of missile lots previously delivered, these latest orders will more likely simply replace past orders, and keep the revenue stream flowing. That's still good news, of course. It's just probably not needle-moving news. For this reason, it leaves the way I value Lockheed Martin stock unchanged. Lockheed stock trades at 1.5 times trailing sales, which is slightly more than its average valuation over the past 20 years by that metric, (and therefore not a bargain). Its price-to-earnings ratio is a bit less than 20 -- again, this seems somewhat expensive in light of analysts' forecasts for 13% long-term earnings growth and its 3% dividend yield. Finally, its free cash flow is roughly equal to its net income at present, giving it a price-to-FCF ratio of 20. While I find none of these valuations alarmingly expensive, neither do any of them scream "cheap" to me. For the time being, I'll be passing on Lockheed Martin stock. Before you buy stock in Lockheed Martin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Lockheed Martin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $672,177!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 815% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 162% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of March 24, 2025 Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Is the U.S. Air Force Buying $1.9 Billion in New Missiles From Lockheed Martin? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
