By Utkarsh Shetti and Mike Stone
(Reuters) -Lockheed Martin reported on Tuesday that its second-quarter profit plunged by about 80%, after the U.S. defense group recorded a pretax loss of $1.6 billion, mainly linked to a classified program within its Aeronautics segment, sending its shares down more than 8%.
The company also trimmed its 2025 profit outlook by $1.5 billion or 18% and said it now targets $6.65 billion in operating profit for the year.
This new guidance, revised down since the company’s last estimate in April, did not include potential impacts from tariffs which have affected other defense companies with international customers.
Lockheed’s tariff risk is relatively low, as its supply chains and labor are largely domestic, said Brian Mulberry, portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management.
The company’s hefty charge stemmed from difficulties with a classified program in its Aeronautics business and international helicopter programs in its Sikorsky unit.
Defense contractors are grappling with mounting cost pressures as inflation and supply chain disruptions drive up expenses on long-term programs priced years ago.
Many of these contracts — often fixed-price — were negotiated before the post-pandemic surge in labor, material, and component costs, forcing contractors such as Lockheed to absorb overruns.
Apart from the $950 million charge on the classified program, Lockheed took a $570 million hit on its work for the Canadian government relating to the procurement of its CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopters.
The Turkish Utility Helicopter Program (TUHP) saw a $95 million loss as well. This charge was due to a restructuring caused by U.S. government sanctions on Turkish entities and persons involved in the program, Taiclet said in a call with analysts.
Lockheed is also engaged in a tussle with U.S. tax authorities who assert the company owes an additional $4.6 billion tax bill, executives said, adding they were pursuing a remedy that could include litigation.
Additionally, the company provided an update on progress with upgrades on its F-35 jets, saying it had completed hardware integration and released new software on the fleet.
Earlier this month, the Pentagon’s program office confirmed the final delivery of 72 jets held in long-term storage in 2024.
Lockheed’s net income in the quarter fell to $342 million, or $1.46 per share from $1.64 billion, or $6.85 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding these charges, the group posted an adjusted profit of $7.29 per share, beating an average estimate of $6.44 per share according to data compiled by LSEG.
Lockheed missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter revenue, which came in at $18.16 billion, compared with an average expectation of $18.57 billion.
(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru and Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Tasim Zahid, David Holmes and David Gregorio)
