LMT · Industrials(guided missiles & space vehicles & parts) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Lockheed Martin Corp reported revenue of $75.0 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 4.6% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 13.5% in 2017 to 10.3%, and it earned 23.0% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $65.6 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 47.0% went to buybacks and 38.2% to dividends; the share count fell 19.6%. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 1.99 is in the grey zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202575.0B+4.6% a year over 9 years
Operating margin10.3%gross margin 10.2%
Return on invested capital23.0%27.6% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay6.6B8.8% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA1.9×net debt 17.6B
Piotroski F-score6/9tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
020.0B40.0B60.0B80.0B
2017Revenue 50.0BOperating income 6.7B
2018Revenue 53.8BOperating income 7.3B
2019
2019Revenue 59.8BOperating income 8.5B
2020Revenue 65.4BOperating income 8.6B
2021Revenue 67.0BOperating income 9.1B
2022Revenue 66.0BOperating income 8.3B
2023Revenue 67.6BOperating income 8.5B
2024Revenue 71.0BOperating income 7.0B
2025Revenue 75.0BOperating income 7.7B
2017201820192019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+4.4%
+2.8%
+4.6%
Operating income
-2.5%
-2.2%
+1.5%
Net income
-4.3%
-6.0%
+11.0%
Earnings per share
-0.3%
-2.4%
+13.7%
Free cash flow per share
+8.5%
+5.3%
+5.5%
Dividend per share
+5.6%
+6.4%
+6.8%
Shares
-4.1%
-3.6%
-2.4%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Return on invested capitalCost of capital today · 5.8%
0.0%20.0%40.0%60.0%
2017Return on invested capital 18.1%
2018Return on invested capital 40.9%
2019
2019Return on invested capital 46.6%
2020Return on invested capital 39.8%
2021Return on invested capital 33.7%
2022Return on invested capital 28.9%
2023Return on invested capital 29.9%
2024Return on invested capital 22.6%
2025Return on invested capital 23.0%
2017201820192019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B
2017Economic profit 1.7B
2018Economic profit 5.4B
2019
2019Economic profit 6.4B
2020Economic profit 6.2B
2021Economic profit 6.3B
2022Economic profit 5.7B
2023Economic profit 5.9B
2024Economic profit 4.5B
2025Economic profit 4.9B
2017201820192019202020212022202320242025
(return on capital − cost of capital) × capital invested: the profit left after paying for the money used. Today's cost of capital is applied to every year, since a past one cannot be rebuilt honestly.
Return on equity
74.6%
Return on assets
8.4%
Asset turnover
1.25×
Research & development
2.7% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B
2017Net income 2.0BFree cash flow 5.3BAfter stock-based pay 5.1B
2018Net income 5.0BFree cash flow 1.9BAfter stock-based pay 1.7B
2019
2019Net income 6.2BFree cash flow 5.8BAfter stock-based pay 5.6B
2020Net income 6.8BFree cash flow 6.4BAfter stock-based pay 6.2B
2021Net income 6.3BFree cash flow 7.7BAfter stock-based pay 7.5B
2022Net income 5.7BFree cash flow 6.1BAfter stock-based pay 5.9B
2023Net income 6.9BFree cash flow 6.2BAfter stock-based pay 6.0B
2024Net income 5.3BFree cash flow 5.3BAfter stock-based pay 5.0B
2025Net income 5.0BFree cash flow 6.9BAfter stock-based pay 6.6B
2017201820192019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2025
65.6B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 21%13.9B
Acquisitions 0%282.0M
Dividends 38%25.0B
Share buybacks 47%30.8B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -7%-4.5B
Over the same years it paid 2.1B in stock. The share count fell 19.6%. 28.8B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$10.00$20.00$30.00
2017Earnings per share $6.75Free cash flow per share $18.23Dividend per share $7.44
2018Earnings per share $17.59Free cash flow per share $6.49Dividend per share $8.18
2019
2019Earnings per share $21.95Free cash flow per share $20.53Dividend per share $9.01
2020Earnings per share $24.30Free cash flow per share $22.82Dividend per share $9.83
2021Earnings per share $22.76Free cash flow per share $27.75Dividend per share $10.60
2022Earnings per share $21.66Free cash flow per share $23.17Dividend per share $11.40
2023Earnings per share $27.55Free cash flow per share $24.80Dividend per share $12.17
2024Earnings per share $22.31Free cash flow per share $22.10Dividend per share $12.79
2025Earnings per share $21.49Free cash flow per share $29.58Dividend per share $13.41
2017201820192019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
220.0M240.0M260.0M280.0M300.0M
2017Diluted shares 290.6M
2018Diluted shares 286.8M
2019
2019Diluted shares 283.8M
2020Diluted shares 281.2M
2021Diluted shares 277.4M
2022Diluted shares 264.6M
2023Diluted shares 251.2M
2024Diluted shares 239.2M
2025Diluted shares 233.5M
2017201820192019202020212022202320242025
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
05.0B10.0B15.0B20.0B
2017Net debt 11.4B
2018Net debt 13.3B
2019
2019Net debt 11.1B
2020Net debt 9.0B
2021Net debt 8.1B
2022Net debt 13.0B
2023Net debt 16.0B
2024Net debt 17.8B
2025Net debt 17.6B
2017201820192019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
1.9×
Interest coverage
7× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.09 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
18 days collects in 19d, stock 19d, pays in 20d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
6of 9 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✕Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforefailed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✓Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellpassed
✕More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforefailed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
1.99grey zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.03 × 6.56+0.22
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.23 × 3.26+0.76
Operating income ÷ assets 0.13 × 6.72+0.87
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.13 × 1.05+0.13
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-2.24below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.57+1.45
Gross margin slipping 0.96+0.51
Soft assets 0.95+0.38
Sales growth 1.06+0.94
Slower depreciation 0.95+0.11
Overheads vs sales 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)-0.17
Profit not in cash -0.06-0.28
Leverage rising 1.04-0.34
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
Receivables are growing 66% against revenue growing 6%.
Benign
A shift towards larger customers on longer terms, or sales concentrated at the end of the period.
Worrying
Sales are being made on looser credit, or revenue has been booked that may never be collected.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
Value per share, with these assumptions$811.49discounted at 5.8% a year · 73% of it from after year 10
Type a share price on the left to ask the reverse questions: what growth, what margin or what discount rate that price implies.
What the value implies, in the usual multiples
At this model's value
Price ÷ earnings
37.8×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
22.0×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
2.8×
Free cash flow yield
3.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today55.3B
Everything after, today151.7B
The whole business207.1B
Minus net debt-17.6B
What belongs to shareholders189.5B
Divided among 233.5M shares: <strong>$811.49</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
02.5B5.0B7.5B10.0B
2017Reported 5.1B
2018Reported 1.7B
2019
2019Reported 5.6B
2020Reported 6.2B
2021Reported 7.5B
2022Reported 5.9B
2023Reported 6.0B
2024Reported 5.0B
2025Reported 6.6B
2026Projected 6.6B
2027Projected 6.8B
2028Projected 7.0B
2029Projected 7.2B
2030Projected 7.4B
2031Projected 7.6B
2032Projected 7.8B
2033Projected 8.0B
2034Projected 8.2B
2035Projected 8.4B
2017201920202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
77.3B
79.6B
81.9B
84.2B
86.5B
88.9B
91.3B
93.6B
96.0B
98.4B
Growth
3.0%
2.9%
2.9%
2.8%
2.8%
2.7%
2.7%
2.6%
2.6%
2.5%
Cash margin
8.6%
8.6%
8.6%
8.6%
8.6%
8.6%
8.6%
8.6%
8.6%
8.6%
Free cash flow
6.6B
6.8B
7.0B
7.2B
7.4B
7.6B
7.8B
8.0B
8.2B
8.4B
Worth today
6.3B
6.1B
5.9B
5.8B
5.6B
5.4B
5.3B
5.1B
5.0B
4.8B
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
4.8%
843
991
1,204
1,538
2,136
5.3%
720
827
972
1,181
1,508
5.8%
627
707
811
954
1,159
6.3%
552
614
693
795
935
6.8%
492
542
603
680
780
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-1.0%
1.0%
3.0%
5.0%
7.0%
6.9%
537
594
657
724
797
7.7%
601
665
734
809
891
8.6%
664
735
811
894
984
9.4%
728
805
889
979
1,077
10.3%
792
876
966
1,065
1,171
All the inputs moving at once
4,875 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$469.52
Median$800.15
90th percentile$1,494.77
$1,000.00$2,000.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$606.90</b> and <b>$1,099.13</b>; one in ten below $469.52, one in ten above $1,494.77.
Does the long run make sense?
21.5×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 21.5 times that year's EBITDA.
143%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 2% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 143% on the new capital — it has earned 28% on average over the last five years.
73%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.