Lockheed Martin (LMT) closed the most recent trading day at $497.28, moving -0.41% from the previous trading session. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.53%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.93%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.22%.

Shares of the aerospace and defense company witnessed a gain of 2.3% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Aerospace sector with its gain of 4.46% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.69%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Lockheed Martin in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on January 28, 2025. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $6.60, marking a 16.46% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $18.85 billion, indicating a 0.1% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Lockheed Martin. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.03% lower within the past month. As of now, Lockheed Martin holds a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Lockheed Martin is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 17.98. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 20.33, so one might conclude that Lockheed Martin is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that LMT currently has a PEG ratio of 4.05. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LMT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.43 as of yesterday's close.

The Aerospace - Defense industry is part of the Aerospace sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 180, positioning it in the bottom 29% of all 250+ industries.