Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) Stock Price & How to Invest

Lockheed Martin is the largest defense contractor in the world, generating the vast majority of its revenue from the US government and allied militaries. It is organized into four segments: Aeronautics (home of the F-35 Lightning II, F-22, and C-130, the largest segment), Rotary and Mission Systems (Sikorsky helicopters, combat systems, radar, and sensors), Missiles and Fire Control (precision missiles, HIMARS, PAC-3 interceptors, and hypersonics), and Space (satellites, missile-defense systems, and strategic and hypersonic programs). Lockheed designs, builds, and sustains some of the most advanced and mission-critical weapons systems in the world, including the F-35, its single largest program, which generates long-tail revenue from production, upgrades, and decades of sustainment. The company makes money under long-term government contracts, with a large multi-year backlog that provides revenue visibility. It pursues hypersonics, missile defense, and space as growth areas. As a flagship defense name, Lockheed is a steady cash generator that returns substantial capital to shareholders. Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.

Lockheed depends overwhelmingly on US and allied defense budgets, so spending cuts, continuing resolutions, shutdowns, or shifting priorities directly threaten revenue. Heavy concentration in the F-35 means program delays, cost overruns, or reduced order quantities have an outsized impact. Large fixed-price development and classified programs can incur losses, and Lockheed has taken charges on troubled contracts. Supply-chain constraints, engine and parts shortages, and procurement protests pressure deliveries. Defense stocks can de-rate on hopes of reduced geopolitical tension or budget pressure, and the business faces regulatory, political, and contract-concentration risk.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Lockheed Martin Corporation's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$72 billion
• Operating margin: ~11-12%
• Net income (TTM): ~$5-6 billion
• P/E (TTM): ~17x
• Dividend yield: ~2.5-3%
• Backlog: ~$160+ billion in contracted future revenue
• Free cash flow: ~$5-6 billion annually

Lockheed trades at a defense-sector multiple supported by an enormous backlog, predictable government revenue, and reliable free cash flow that funds a growing dividend and large buybacks. The valuation reflects the durability of defense spending and the F-35 annuity, offset by program-concentration risk and occasional charges on fixed-price contracts. As a defensive cash compounder, Lockheed is often valued on free cash flow and backlog visibility as much as headline earnings.

If you want LMT exposure as part of a larger bundle rather than directly, these ETFs hold it meaningfully. Weights are approximate and refresh quarterly.

These are the investment theses LMT naturally fits into. Each links to a full theme guide listing every other stock that belongs and the ETFs commonly used as a passive proxy.

Other names that show up alongside LMT in the same themes. Worth a look if you're thinking about diversification within a single thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get LMT exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it (XAR, PPA, ITA), which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic basket, so LMT sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the basket route. Describe a thesis where LMT fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Lockheed Martin (LMT) is a backlog-rich defense prime whose F-35 sustainment annuity and missiles-and-space programs generate predictable, government-backed cash flow funding a growing dividend and buybacks. In a portfolio it behaves as a defensive, income-oriented aerospace-and-defense anchor whose main swing factor is defense-budget direction and program concentration, not the broad economic cycle.

Whether LMT is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is LMT a buy?, and where the stock could go from here in the LMT stock forecast.

For income investors, whether LMT pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does LMT pay a dividend? And to weigh LMT against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: LMT vs RKLB and LMT vs ASTS.