Lockheed Martin Wins Navy Deal To Configure CH-53K Aircraft

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s (NYSE:LMT) Sikorsky business unit recently clinched a contract to conduct configuration changes for CH-53K helicopter. The configuration will support initial operational test and evaluation for lot 1 low rate initial production of the helicopter.

Valued at $12 million, the contract is expected to be completed in January 2022. Work related to the deal will be executed in Stratford, CT. The deal was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland.

Attributes of the CH-53K Program

The CH-53K helicopter takes forward Sikorsky’s 50 years of manufacturing and operational success with its CH-53A, CH-53D/G and CH-53E predecessors. The new heavy lifter allows the U.S. Marine Corps and international militaries to move troops and equipment from ship to shore, and to higher altitude terrains more quickly and effectively. It is also effective for handling missions like humanitarian aid, troop transport, casualty evacuation, support of special operations forces, and combat search and rescue (CSAR).

What Favors Lockheed Martin?

In recent times, military helicopters in the U.S. aerospace-defense market have gained prominence and significant traction due to advancements and integration of new tactical, logistical and other important features. Some of these developments have also been made by Lockheed Martin, paving the way toward securing valuable helicopter-related contracts in recent times.

Such contracts are indicative of solid revenue growth prospects for the company’s Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) business segment, which comprises the Sikorsky helicopters.

With the fiscal 2020 defense budget offering investment potential worth $57.7 billion in Aircraft, we may expect Lockheed Martin’s RMS unit to receive consistent order flows from the Pentagon like the latest one. This, in turn, should lead to top-line growth for the unit in the coming days.

Price Movement

In a year’s time, shares of Lockheed Martin have gained 33.4% compared with the industry’s 20.1% growth.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Lockheed Martin currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the same industry are Air Industries Group (NYSE:AIRI) , L3Harris Technologies Inc. (NYSE:LHX) and Leidos Holdings (NYSE:LDOS) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Air Industries’ Zacks Consensus Estimate for loss in 2019 has improved 63.6% over the last 90 days. The company came up with an average positive earnings surprise of 52.78% in the last four quarters.

L3Harris Technologies delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 5.02% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings has climbed 3.3% over the past 90 days.

Leidos Holdings delivered average positive earnings surprise of 8.93% in the last four quarters. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 earnings has moved up 5.5% over the past 90 days.

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