Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Shares Build Interest Before Earnings

Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE:LMT) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, January 26, 2012. The average estimate of analysts is for net income of $1.94 per share, a decline of 18.5% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $2.05. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has risen from $1.93 during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting profit of $7.62 per share, a rise of 5% from last year.

The company has beaten estimates the last four quarters and is coming off a quarter where it topped forecasts by 26 cents, reporting net income of $2.07 per share against a mean estimate of profit of $1.81 per share. Analysts are projecting a decline of 3.6% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $12.33 billion.

Competitors to Watch: Astrotech Corp. (NASDAQ:ASTC), The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC), General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE:GD), Alliant Techsystems Inc. (NYSE:ATK), Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN).

Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, January 26, 2012. The average estimate of analysts is for profit of $1.34 per share, a decline of 14.6% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from $1.39. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at $1.34 during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 9.5% versus last year to $5.05.

The company has beaten estimates the last four quarters and is coming off a quarter where it topped forecasts by 6 cents, reporting net income of $1.39 per share against a mean estimate of profit of $1.33 per share. On average, analysts predict $6.75 billion in revenue this quarter, a decline of 1.9% from the year ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $25.14 billion for the year, a decline of 0.2% from last year’s revenue of $25.18 billion.

Competitors to Watch: The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA), Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC), General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE:GD), Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE:LMT), Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc (NASDAQ:KTOS), ITT Corporation (NYSE:ITT), Rockwell Collins, Inc. (NYSE:COL), Honeywell Intl. Inc. (NYSE:HON), FLIR Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR), and Alliant Techsystems Inc. (NYSE:ATK).