Orin
LMTNYSE·Aerospace & Defense

Lockheed Martin Corporation LMT

Market cap $121.6BP/E 19.3× trailingGross margin 11.8%Reports Tue 20 Oct, before the open
$526.96
+2.28 (+0.43%)live 09:30 ET
52-wk $437.25 – $692.00
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Orin's take
0.58conviction · moderate
Refreshed 30 Aug · take v6. A new filing or a print queues the next refresh.

LMT's FY2025 revenue grew 5.6% to $75.1B with operating income recovering to $7.73B and FCF rebounding to $6.9B, while the stock trades at a 31% P/E discount to the peer median (20.7x vs 30.1x) — a compelling valuation for a franchise with a reported $230.4B backlog. However, net income has declined for two consecutive years — from $6.9B in FY2023 to $5.0B in FY2025 — gross margin has compressed from 12.6% to 10.2%, total debt has risen to $21.7B against just $6.7B of stockholders' equity, and the MACD histogram turned negative at -5.77 as the stock slipped to $563.85.

The missile-supercycle thesis and FCF strength are real, but declining profitability, a leveraged balance sheet, persistent insider selling (net -$19.2M over 24 months), and a slightly negative smart-money score (-0.066 as of Q2 2026) warrant patience for earnings stabilization before turning more constructive.

What could go wrong

  • Margin compression persists. Gross margin eroded from 12.6% (FY2023) to 10.2% (FY2025) and net margin from 10.2% to 6.7%; if cost pressures on fixed-price contracts continue, earnings could weaken further despite top-line growth.
  • Balance-sheet leverage. Total debt reached $21.7B against only $6.7B of stockholders' equity as of FY2025 — a debt-to-equity profile that limits financial flexibility if interest rates stay elevated.
  • Insider and smart-money outflows. Insiders net sold $19.2M over the trailing 24 months with no cluster buying, and the smart-money score turned slightly negative at -0.066 as of Q2 2026 after being positive at +0.134 the prior quarter.
  • Technical deterioration. MACD histogram is negative at -5.77 with the signal line well above the MACD line, and the stock at $563.85 is barely holding above its 200-day MA ($554.9); a break below could signal further downside.

What would change my mind

Earnings inflection. FY2026 quarterly EPS growth turns positive YoY, reversing the three-year decline from $27.55 (2023) to $21.49 (2025)bullish
Gross margin recovery. Gross margin reclaims above 11% for a full quarter, signaling fixed-price contract headwinds are abatingbullish
Technical breakdown. Stock closes meaningfully below the 200-day MA at $554.9 on rising volumebearish
Debt accumulation without revenue offset. Total debt exceeds $23B while revenue growth falls below 4% YoY, indicating leverage is rising without proportional business expansionbearish

Where this comes from: FMP FY2025 financials · peer_relative composite · FMP fundamentals · derived_metrics. Orin's read on LMT; not advice.

Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-23 · actual filings

Sept 25Nov 25Jan 26Mar 26May 26Jul 26

50-day average 200-day average · volume below

Largest holders · 13F Q2 2026

Money flow
FilerPositionOf fund
State Street$16.8B0.5% of fund
Vanguard Capital Management$7.2B0.2% of fund
Charles Schwab Investment Management$4.0B0.5% of fund
Morgan Stanley$2.9B0.2% of fund
Vanguard Portfolio Management$2.8B0.1% of fund
Geode Capital Management$2.7B0.1% of fund

149 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows

Insiders, last 24 months: 150 Form 4 filings, net −$19.2M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 21 sales— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.

Ask Orin about LMT

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Where it trades

vs its own 5y · Industrials
MetricNowOwn medianSector
P/E19.3×21.7×44.5×
EV/EBITDA14.0×15.2×
P/S1.57×1.63×
P/B13.8×16.6×

Its P/E sits 40th percentile of its own last 5 years (−0.13σ from its own mean).

What the price assumes

5.9%

free-cash-flow growth every year for 10 years, discounted at 10%, is what today’s price implies — starting from $6.9B of trailing free cash flow. It is an assumption the market is making, not a forecast Orin is making.

What Wall Street published

37 firms · 2026-09-23
Consensus target

$645

$575$700 · +22% against today's price

How they rate it
  • 22 buy or overweight
  • 14 hold
  • 1 underweight or sell

The analysts’ consensus and their own ratings, not Orin’s. A target is a twelve-month opinion published by the firm that wrote it.

Against the companies it is compared to

median P/E 28.5× of 10 peers
CompanyMarket capP/EEV/EBITDAGrossNetROE
LMTLockheed Martin Corporation$121B19.3×14.0×11.8%8.2%86%
ADPAutomatic Data Processing, Inc.$105B24.0×16.8×48.2%20.1%70%
BAThe Boeing Company$158B74.9×28.3×4.7%2.6%105%
DEDeere & Company$192B39.3×22.2×35.7%10.2%18%
GDGeneral Dynamics Corporation$93B20.6×15.2×15.4%8.2%17%
HONHoneywell International Inc.$67B8.2×7.4×36.6%22.7%42%
LHXL3Harris Technologies, Inc.$45B24.0×14.6×25.5%8.2%9%
NOCNorthrop Grumman Corporation$73B16.3×11.7×20.1%10.5%27%
PHParker-Hannifin Corporation$122B33.6×22.5×37.7%17.0%25%
TDGTransDigm Group Incorporated$62B33.5×18.6×59.6%21.3%-21%
TTTrane Technologies plc$96B33.0×22.9×35.4%13.3%34%

The median is of the 10 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. This company trades 32.5% below it. The peer set is the vendor’s, so a company can appear here that a person would not have chosen.

What it has traded at

P/E by fiscal year
FY14 16.9×FY25 22.4×

What its sector has traded at

Industrials
FY14 173.5×FY26 32.7×

Two scales, drawn separately on purpose: a sector median and one company’s multiple are not the same number and putting them on one axis invites a comparison neither series supports.

Discounted cash flow

not recomputed since
ModelFair valueAgainstComputed
Standard DCF$861$531.29 · +62%2026-06-10
Levered DCF$966$531.29 · +82%2026-06-10

The vendor’s intrinsic-value models. Treat them as a low-growth anchor — for a fast grower the market routinely pays well above a DCF. These were computed against the price in the “against” column, not today’s.

Every estimate on one scale

price $526.96
52-week range$437 – $692
Analyst targets$575 – $700
Standard DCF$861 as of 2026-06-10, when it was $531.29
Levered DCF$966 as of 2026-06-10, when it was $531.29
At own 5y-median P/E (22×)$591
At 5y P/E range (16–22×)$424 – $610
At sector P/E (45×)$1213

The vertical rule is the current price. Ranges and point estimates are the backend’s, published as they were calculated; an arrow means the estimate sits beyond this scale, and its number is on the right.