Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) logged an 8 percent increase year-over-year in fiscal 2023 second-quarter net sales to $16.7 billion, net earnings of $1.7 billion or $6.63 per share and a record backlog of $158 billion.
The Bethesda, Maryland-based aerospace and defense contractor said Tuesday it returned $1.5 billion to shareholders in the form of cash dividends and share repurchases.
Net sales of Lockheed’s aeronautics segment during the quarter increased 17 percent to $6.87 billion, which the company attributed to a higher volume on F-35 production contracts.
Missiles and fires control business’ Q2 revenue was $2.75 billion, compared to $2.74 billion in the prior-year period, while the rotary and mission systems segment logged a 3 percent decline in sales due to lower Black Hawk production volume.
The space segment’s net sales during the quarter rose 12 percent to $3.2 billion, which the company attributed to strategic and missile defense, national security space and commercial civil space programs.
“Given the strength of our year-to-date results and ongoing demand for our signature programs and advanced technologies, we are raising our full year sales and earnings per share outlooks for 2023,” said Jim Taiclet, chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed and a two-time recipient of the Wash100 Award.
Lockheed revised its financial outlook for full fiscal 2023, expecting to record annual net sales of between $66.2 billion and $66.7 billion and diluted earnings in the range of $27 to $27.20 per share.
“Along the way, we will continue developing and investing in our 21st Century Security vision to strengthen the resilience and responsiveness of the U.S. defense production system, elevate deterrence through the acceleration of digital technologies into critical missions with our commercial industry partners, and deepen our industrial relationships with allies and partner nations for production and sustainment operations,” noted Taiclet.
The two-time Wash100 awardee told analysts in an earnings call Tuesday that Lockheed made a major milestone in its 21st Century Security vision by demonstrating digital command-and-control capability in May during the Northern Edge exercise near Alaska as part of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s Joint Fires Network.
“The exercise demonstrated the ability to successfully integrate with both Lockheed Martin and third-party platforms and aircraft, including the F-35s. The system performs C2 functions across all the military services, all levels of operation, and across multiple domains from space to air to surface,” Taiclet said.
