Stock Update (NYSE:LMT): Pentagon questions future viability of Lockheed-Boeing venture

[Reuters] – The Pentagon’s chief arms buyer on Wednesday said it was “questionable” whether United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, could survive if the U.S. Defense Department immediately stopped using the Russian RD-180 engine that powers ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket. Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall told a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee that ULA did have a second rocket, the Delta 4, that did not use the RD-180 engines, but that vehicle was far more costly than the Atlas 5 rocket and could not compete with launches provided by SpaceX. Read more on this. Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) , valued at $64.53B, opened this morning at $209.89. Today, shares have traded between $208.07 and $211.64 per share and has traded between $181.91 and $227.91 over the past 12 months. LMT shares are currently priced at 17.24x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively inexpensive compared to the industry ’s 42.78x forward p/e ratio. The company pays shareholders $6.60 per share in dividend income per year, for a current yield of 3.11%. According to a consensus of 9 analysts, the earnings estimate of $2.73 per share would be $0.01 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.07 sequential decrease. What we find to be interesting is that the full-year EPS estimate of $12.18 is a $1.34 better when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $11.04 Billion. If reported, that would be a 9.20% increase over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Guggenheim Initiated LMT at Buy (Jan 20, 2016). Previously, RBC Capital Mkts upgraded LMT from Sector Perform to Outperform. The average price target for LMT shares by the analysts covering the stock is $232.71, which is 10.87% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:LMT) Similar Articles: Market Update (NYSE:BA): Pentagon questions future viability of Lockheed-Boeing venture Stock Update: Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) – Lockheed-Boeing venture orders 20 more Russian rocket engines Market Update: Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE:LMT) – Lockheed Martin wins $784 mln U.S. long-range radar deal-Pentagon