Lockheed stock up, but MFC segment shows small decrease

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which employs thousands in Central Florida, reported thirdquarter profit Tuesday of $7.93 per share, on net sales of $11.5 billion. Sales were up by 15 percent over the prior-year period.

When adjusted for discontinued operations, the profit came to $3.61 per share. The sales and earnings beat forecasts, which pushed up stock value for the company (NYSE: LMT) by more than 7 percent in Tuesday trading, closing at $249.26 per share.

The company’s Missiles and Fire Control segment, which is a large part of Lockheed’s Orlando operations, reported small drops in operating profit and net sales compared to the third quarter of last year.

Net sales for the segment was reported at $1.7 billion, down 2 percent, while operating profit was reported at $289 million, down 9 percent.

The company reported that the drop in sales for the MFC segment was due to “lower net sales of approximately $40 million as a result of lower volume on certain programs,” including the Longbow, Lantirn and Sniper products, and “about $25 million for air and missile defense programs (primarily Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) due to lower volume.”

Those decreases were partially offset by higher net sales of about $45 million for tactical missiles programs because of increased deliveries, primarily for the Hellfire program.

Lockheed also updated its outlook for the future, stating that cash from operations is likely to be impacted by a delay in collections on the F-35 program.

Lockheed said it expects 2017 net sales to increase by about 7 percent compared to 2016.