Lockheed's Forecast Fails to Impress

Shares of the defense contractor are down nearly 3%.
By Robert Holmes ,

Shares of

Lockheed Martin

(LMT) - Get Report

slipped during Tuesday's session after the defense company offered an outlook for the full year that, while higher than before, didn't satisfy Wall Street.

Although Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed upped its 2008 profit outlook by a dime to a range of $7.15 to $7.35 a share, the altered view falls short of analysts' expectations for a profit of $7.37 a share, according to Thomson Financial.

Additionally, the company's view that revenue for the year should be between $41.8 billion and $42.8 billion was near the low end of expectations.

Lockheed's stock was lower by $2.97, or 2.8%, to $103.60.

The forecast was delivered alongside Lockheed's first-quarter results. The company said it earned $730 million, or $1.75 a share, in the quarter, up 6% from a year earlier. Sales rose 10% to $9.98 billion. Analysts expected Lockheed to make $1.63 a share on revenue of $9.69 billion.

Electronic systems, space systems, and information systems and global services were strong, offsetting a loss in revenue from the company's aeronautics business. The decrease in aeronautic sales resulted from declines in combat aircraft.

Other defense companies were trading lower in sympathy.

Northrop Grumman

(NOC) - Get Report

and

Raytheon

(RTN) - Get Report

were down 1.3%, and

Alliant Techsystems

(ATK)

shed 0.8%.

L3 Communications

(LLL) - Get Report

was slipping 0.3%, and

General Dynamics

(GD) - Get Report

was lower by 0.1%.

Boeing

(BA) - Get Report

, which will report earnings Wednesday, was higher by 0.3% at $79.33.

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