The GovCon Index continued to reflect a narrow range of trading activity across U.S. stock markets Tuesday with a nominal decline of 0.052 points to 73.241 as Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and United Technologies Corp. started the first full week of third quarter earnings season for many Index and other defense-GovCon companies.Index member Lockheed fell $1.91 — or 0.91 percent – to 208.73 after the Bethesda, Md.-based company posted earnings and revenue figures above Wall Street estimates and said it expected its 2016 sales to remain at or near 2015 levels.
Lockheed also said it expects to wrap up its $9 billion acquisition of Sikorsky Aircraft from UTC and review of some information technology and government services businesses by the end of this year.
Non-Index company UTC rose 3.88 percent to $95.62 after it reported earnings that beat Wall Street’s forecasts and announced a plan to repurchase $12 billion of its stock.
UTC’s revenue fell short of analyst estimates due in part to a strong U.S. dollar,  the company said.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) will report earnings Wednesday and Raytheon‘s (NYSE: RTN) are due Thursday.
U.S. investors also looked at a report that showed housing starts rose 6.5 percent in September to 1.206 million, a figure CNBC said was well above estimates from many economists.
Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index tracks 30 large, publicly-traded government contracting companies.
Top GovCon Index Gainers
| Company | $ Current Price | $ Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engility Holdings | 30.23 | +0.95 | +3.24% |
| ICF International | 31.92 | +0.64 | +2.05% |
| Orbital ATK | 78.89 | +1.24 | +1.60% |
| Cubic Corp. | 44.20 | +0.58 | +1.33% |
| Harris Corp. | 76.30 | +0.97 | +1.29% |
Market Summary
| Advancing Issues | 15 |
| Declining Issues | 14 |
| Unchanged Issues | 1 |
| Index | Value | Net Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| GovCon Index | 73.241 | -0.052 | -0.071% |
| S&P 500 | 2, 030.77 | -2.89 | -0.14% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 17, 217.11 | -13.43 | -0.08% |
| NASDAQ | 4, 880.97 | -24.50 | -0.50% |
