Why did Lockheed surge immediately? Q3 earnings beat, buyback plan ship inventory flying (NYSE:LMT)

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) soared Tuesday to its greatest each day acquire in additional than two years, closing +8.7% after beating Q3 earnings estimates and growing its inventory buyback authorization by $14B.

Q3 adjusted earnings got here in at a stronger than anticipated $6.87/share, and money stream from operations jumped 62% to $3.13B, however web gross sales of $15.68B narrowly missed analyst consensus estimates.

The inventory held up even after executives mentioned on the earnings convention name that the corporate doesn’t count on gross sales progress to return till 2024, as a restoration from provide chain issues and lingering results from COVID-19 will likely be “extra gradual than beforehand anticipated,” driving flat gross sales in 2023.

As reported by Protection Information, CFO Jay Malave mentioned Lockheed’s (LMT) aeronautics sector gross sales doubtless will fall barely subsequent yr, as a result of decrease manufacturing quantity on the F-35, with deliveries of the fighter anticipated to come back in flat, however Malave mentioned that might be as a result of the corporate recorded gross sales upfront with long-lead procurements, which ought to reduce in 2024.

The CFO mentioned Lockheed’s (LMT) work on categorized applications will likely be a brilliant spot subsequent yr, and CEO Jim Taiclet additionally mentioned each categorized applications and applications of document will “ramp up from 2023 to 2024 meaningfully,” accounting for a lot of the firm’s progress in 2024.

Lockheed’s (LMT) outcomes sparked a rally in different aerospace and protection shares, together with (NOC) +6.6%, (LHX) +5.8%, (KAMN) +5.4%, (GD) +3.8%, (RTX) +3.4%, (LDOS) +2.8%, (TDG) +2.8%, (AJRD) +2.6%, (HXL) +2.2%.

Final month, Lockheed (LMT) hiked its quarterly dividend to $3.00/share from $2.80 beforehand.