Lockheed Martin Logs Jump in Profit, Sales

By Connor Hart

Lockheed Martin logged higher profit and sales in the fourth quarter, boosted by increasing demand for weapons as Pentagon officials gear up for conflicts on multiple fronts.

The defense contractor on Thursday posted a profit of $1.34 billion, up from $527 million a year earlier. Quarterly earnings of $5.80 a share were just below the $5.81 a share that analysts polled by FactSet expected.

Sales climbed 9.1% to $20.32 billion and topped the $19.86 billion that Wall Street modeled.

Chief Executive Jim Taiclet said the company experienced unprecedented demand over the past year, ending with a record backlog of $194 billion.

"This escalating demand for our signature programs and systems has been driven by combat-proven performance over recent years that has already been again demonstrated in 2026," he said.

Lockheed Martin is well positioned to perform under the Defense Department's new weapons-acquisition structure, Taiclet said. Pentagon leaders have shaken up the way the U.S. military buys weaponry, equipment and software by making purchases more quickly, and from a broader range of potential suppliers.

This shake-up paved the way for Lockheed Martin to enter an agreement with the Defense Department earlier this month to increase its Patriot missile output to roughly 2,000 interceptors a year. And earlier Thursday, the company said it will quadruple its Thaad missile-defense system output, to roughly 400 interceptors a year.

Shares climbed 3.7%, to $619.53, in premarket trading.

The Pentagon, alarmed at the low weapons stockpiles the U.S. would have to have on hand for a potential future conflict with China, has spent most of the past year urging weapons makers to dramatically increase missile production rates, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Looking ahead, Lockheed Martin guided for earnings of $29.35 to $30.25 a share on revenue of $77.5 billion to $80 billion in 2026. Analysts were looking for earnings of $29.49 a share on revenue of $77.98 billion.

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 29, 2026 09:11 ET (14:11 GMT)