Lockheed Martin Boosts Guidance After Beating Expectations

Lockheed Martin further lifted its forecast for the year as the military contractor logged higher F-35 jet fighter deliveries and benefited from sales in its recently acquired Sikorsky helicopter unit.

Maryland-based Lockheed, the world's largest military contractor by revenue, has been working to reshape its business as it looks to focus on more profitable work building military jets, helicopters and missiles. Last year Lockheed bought helicopter maker Sikorsky Corp. for $9 billion, and it said earlier this year that it would divest its big government information-technology unit and merge it with Leidos Holdings Inc., a deal the company said Tuesday is on track to close in the third quarter.

At the same time, Lockheed has been working to fix glitches in its F-35 jet program, which is due to enter service with the U.S. Air Force by year-end. In its latest quarter, the company said higher F-35 sales pushed revenue in its aeronautics business, its biggest, up 5.9% to $4.38 billion. Meanwhile, revenue in its mission systems segment surged 53% thanks to Sikorsky. Performance in those two segments offset lower sales in the company's IT and space systems businesses.

Overall, Lockheed reported a profit of $1.02 billion, or $3.32 a share, up from $929 million, or $2.94 a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 11% to $12.91 billion.

According to Thomson Reuters, analysts anticipated $2.93 in earnings per share on $12.55 billion in sales.

For the year, Lockheed now expects to report $12.15 to $12.45 in earnings per share, up from an earlier prediction of $11.50 to $11.80 a share. The company expects to log $50 billion to $51.5 billion in revenue this year, higher than its previous $49.6 billion to $51.1 billion forecast. Analysts had been looking for $11.84 a share and $50.46 billion in sales.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 19, 2016 08:35 ET (12:35 GMT)

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