Lockheed Martin Tops Earnings Estimates Amid Unprecedented Demand

Lockheed Martin has a record $179B backlog—roughly two and half years of pending sales on CH-53K helicopters, Patriot missiles, and F-35 jets.

An F-35 fighter jet at the Fighter Wing Skrydstrup air base near Skrydstrup, Denmark, on Oct. 1, 2023. Bo Amstrup/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Lockheed Martin Corp.’s third-quarter sales rose nearly 9 percent year-over-year to $18.6 billion, prompting the Bethesda, Maryland-based aerospace and defense company to raise its 2025 sales outlook and ramp up production across its U.S. manufacturing facilities.

Lockheed Martin has a record $179 billion backlog due to unprecedented demand, Jim Taiclet, Lockheed’s chairman, president, and CEO, said in a statement accompanying the earnings release.

That book of business represents more than two and a half years of pending sales on major contracts for Lockheed Martin’s CH-53K heavy transport helicopters, Patriot air defense missiles, and F-35 Lightning II jets.

“We are investing aggressively in both new digital technologies and physical production capacity needed to meet the top defense priorities of the United States and its allies—and we are doing so in partnership with a number of leading technology partners, large and small,” Taiclet said.

“Major national‑defense initiatives like the Golden Dome for America demand proven leadership in a wide range of skills, including integrated air and missile defense, space warfare, and highly secure command‑and‑control systems,” he said.

The Golden Dome for America, formerly known as the Iron Dome for America, is part of President Donald Trump’s vision for enhanced safety from potential missile attacks from China and Russia. The integrated system would identify incoming missiles and deploy interceptor missiles to destroy the threats in flight. Lockheed Martin is expected to make substantial contributions to the Golden Dome program.

In early September, Lockheed Martin announced a nearly $10 billion contract from the U.S. Army to produce 1,970 Patriot missiles and associated hardware. The company expects to deliver more than 600 of the missiles in 2025.

Lockheed Martin raised its 2025 sales outlook to $74.25 billion to $74.75 billion, up from the previously announced range of $73.75 billion to $74.75 billion.

Ongoing geopolitical conflicts and simmering global tensions also helped Lockheed Martin deliver a record 143 F-35 Lightning II jets through the end of Q3.

Earlier in the week, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced plans to order 15 additional F-35 jets to meet NATO’s updated defense and deterrence requirements. Germany previously ordered 35 of the advanced fighter jets to replace its aging Tornado jets, which have flown since the early 1980s.

Aeronautics accounts for about two-thirds of Lockheed Martin’s revenue, and sales in the segment increased 12 percent to $7.26 billion versus the same quarter in 2024. Operating profits rose 3 percent to $682 million and totaled more than $1.3 billion year-to-date.

Lockheed Martin’s jets are built at the company’s 760-acre Air Force Plant 4 manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas.

The defense contractor returned $1.8 billion to shareholders in Q3 through share repurchases and dividend payments. Its fourth-quarter dividend payment increased 5 percent to 3.45 per share, the 23rd consecutive year of rising dividend payments, the company noted.

Despite exceeding analyst expectations almost across the board, the beat had little impact on Wall Street—shares of Lockheed Martin stock ended the day retreating almost 3.2 percent to close at $489.50.