TLDR
- Lockheed Martin posted Q1 EPS of $6.44, missing the $6.67 estimate — a -3.47% earnings surprise
- Revenue came in at $18.02 billion, just below the consensus estimate by 0.57%
- The company reaffirmed FY26 guidance of $77.5B–$80B in revenue but did not raise it
- LMT stock dropped roughly 3.3%–3.65% on the day despite a solid backlog and program wins
- LMT is still up about 14.8%–15.4% year-to-date, well ahead of the S&P 500’s ~4.3% gain
Lockheed Martin reported first-quarter 2026 results that missed Wall Street expectations on both earnings and revenue, sending the stock lower on Thursday.
LOCKHEED MARTIN $LMT EARNINGS ARE OUT!
🔴 EPS: $6.44 | Est. $6.69
🔴 REV: $18.02B | Est. $18.25B
IMPLIED MOVE TODAY: ±4.03%!! pic.twitter.com/fv7ac6yRW7— Schaeffer's Investment Research (@schaeffers) April 23, 2026
The defense contractor posted adjusted EPS of $6.44, below the Zacks consensus estimate of $6.67. That’s a miss of about 3.5%, and a step down from the $7.28 per share it earned in Q1 2025.
Revenue for the quarter came in at $18.02 billion. That was slightly below the consensus estimate and up only modestly from $17.96 billion a year ago.
The stock fell roughly 3.3% to 3.65% on the day as investors processed the results.
Lockheed Martin Corporation, LMT
Guidance Held Flat — And That Was the Problem
The bigger issue for investors wasn’t the miss itself. It was what came after.
Lockheed kept its full-year 2026 targets unchanged. The company is still guiding for revenue of $77.5 billion to $80 billion and free cash flow of $6.5 billion to $6.8 billion.
Capital spending guidance also stayed in place at $2.5 billion to $2.8 billion.
The market had been hoping for an upward revision — particularly given the strong defense spending environment and LMT’s year-to-date outperformance.
When none came, sentiment turned cautious.
The unchanged outlook was read as a sign management isn’t seeing enough acceleration to push numbers higher just yet.
What the Numbers Actually Show
It’s not all bad. Over the last four quarters, Lockheed has beaten EPS estimates three times.
Just last quarter, the company posted earnings of $7.43 per share against an estimate of $6.24 — a blowout 19% beat.
Q1’s miss breaks that streak, but the broader track record still looks solid.
The company pointed to a strong backlog and key program wins during the quarter. Those are forward-looking indicators that tend to matter more than a single quarter’s EPS print.
LMT’s current market cap sits at around $131.8 billion.
Analyst Outlook
Despite the miss, the stock holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) heading into this report, based on favorable estimate revision trends before earnings.
The consensus estimate for Q2 stands at $7.30 EPS on $19.35 billion in revenue.
For the full fiscal year, analysts are modeling $29.97 EPS on $79.16 billion in revenue.
LMT is up about 14.8% year-to-date, compared to a 4.3% gain for the S&P 500 over the same period.
The current market cap is approximately $131.8 billion, with average daily trading volume around 1.6 million.
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