I'll research Lockheed Martin before writing the preview. Let me start by gathering recent filings, transcripts, and news.I have the recent earnings list and news. Let me read the most recent earnings (2026Q1) release and call, plus the year-ago Q2 (2025Q2) for comparison, and check estimates/prices.I have strong financial detail. Let me get the recent stock price performance and skim the Q1 2026 earnings call for forward-looking color.There's a notable detail — July 2026 news refers to "CEO Frank St. John" while the Q1 call had Jim Taiclet as CEO. Let me verify a potential leadership change and check the latest consensus/analyst setup.Web search isn't returning results. Let me check daily news over a wider window for the leadership announcement.I now have everything I need. Let me quickly compute a few performance figures to ground the preview.Here is the preview.

Lockheed Martin (LMT) — Q2 2026 Earnings Preview

Reports Thursday, July 23, 2026, before market open · Conference call 8:30 a.m. ET

The one-line setup

This is the "clean comp" quarter — the anniversary of last year's disaster print. On July 22, 2025, LMT took ~$1.6B of pre-tax program losses plus $169M of other charges that crushed GAAP EPS to $1.46 and sent the stock down ~11% in a day. The bar is now about proving the H2-weighted recovery thesis is real: margin normalization, cash flow inflection, and converting a surging demand backdrop (munitions, air-and-missile defense) into actual profit and orders — without any new charge surprises.

What the Street expects

Revenue: ~$19.28B, up ~6.2% YoY — a reacceleration versus a soft Q1.
EPS: ~$7.15, down ~1.9% versus the year-ago ex-charge comparable (reported year-ago GAAP was $1.46; the $5.83 of charges is the swing).
Sentiment framing into the print: global defense spending is surging, but legacy primes face rising competition from startups, a pivot toward lower-cost/attritable warfare (cheap drones), fiscal/political uncertainty, and margin headwinds — the classic "great demand, questionable execution/margin" debate.

Why Q1 2026 sets a cautious-but-improving tone

Q1 (reported April 23) was underwhelming and is worth anchoring on:

Metric	Q1 2026	Q1 2025
Sales	$18.0B	$18.0B (flat)
Segment operating profit	$1.82B (−13%)	$2.09B
Segment margin	10.1%	11.6%
Diluted EPS	$6.44 (−12%)	$7.28
Free cash flow	$(291)M	$955M
Backlog	$186.4B	$193.6B (YE25)

Key management framing from Q1 that Q2 must validate: - Sales grow from Q1 through the rest of the year; margins improve with gains "weighted to 2H 2026" as production milestones are hit and risk retires. Q2 is the first real proof point. - Cash flow is back-half loaded (as usual); a Q1 ERP/billing-system transition was expected to reverse "by the second quarter." Watch whether FCF turns positive — the year-ago Q2 was also negative at $(150)M, so an easy comp. - Q1 profit was dinged by unfavorable F-16 (rework/flight-test delays on Taiwan/Morocco config) and C-130 (supplier/integration) adjustments; management said both are back on track (F-16 deliveries resumed, 4 C-130s delivered). Confirmation matters.

The biggest risk to watch: classified program charges

The two elephants are the Aeronautics classified program (the source of last year's $950M loss) and a classified MFC missile program. - No charges were taken on either in Q1 2026 — Taiclet said he "feels better about [the Aero] program than any time in 6 years," with senior executives now directly overseeing it. - But management guided ~$500–700M of annual cash burn on the classified programs in both 2026 and 2027, before a sizable drawdown thereafter. Any fresh reach-forward loss would dominate the tape regardless of the operational story — this remains the single largest binary risk into the print.

Demand backdrop is exceptionally strong — orders/backlog are the offset

The order momentum has been remarkable and is the bull case: - THAAD: a Pentagon interceptor deal worth up to ~$35B (announced June 25). - PAC-3: ~$7B awarded in Q1 (incl. a $4.8B fully-funded undefinitized contract); multi-year framework agreements to lift PAC-3 output ~3x, THAAD ~4x, and PrSM ~4x, backed by 20+ facilities under construction/modernization. - New product: on July 20 LMT unveiled the PAC-3 ACE — a lower-cost Patriot interceptor priced at less than half of the ~$4M MSE, targeting the "cheaper mass" gap in air defense; initial production potentially within 36 months with U.S./European partners. - F-35: the FY27 budget request bumps quantity to 85 jets (from 47); watch delivery cadence (Q1 delivered just 32 vs. 47 a year ago) and sustainment growth.

Book-to-bill and backlog (was $186B, down from $194B at YE25) will be a key read — the THAAD/PAC-3 awards should drive a strong bookings quarter. Also listen for de-risking detail on the framework agreements: inflation-indexed escalators, cash-flow-neutral advance payments, and clawback provisions management says protect LMT if out-year rates slip.

Capital allocation is in flux — the Ultra Maritime deal

On July 6, LMT agreed to acquire Ultra Maritime (undersea/anti-submarine warfare) from Advent for ~$3.45–3.5B — its largest deal in years, expanding naval/undersea exposure amid rising demand.
Note buybacks were zero in Q1 2026 (vs. $750M in Q1 2025); LMT paid down $1B of debt and $816M of dividends. With the Ultra Maritime cash outlay pending, expect muted repurchases and questions on balance-sheet capacity, deal financing, closing timing, and accretion.

Full-year guide — reaffirm, raise, or trim?

Reaffirmed at Q1 (unchanged since January): - Sales: $77.5–80.0B (~5% growth) - Segment operating profit: $8.425–8.675B (~+25% off depressed 2025) - Diluted EPS: $29.35–30.25 - FCF: $6.5–6.8B (capex $2.5–2.8B); management expressed confidence in the upper end of the cash range aided by favorable CAMT/OBBBA tax guidance.

Given the ~+25% segment-profit growth guide is heavily 2H-weighted, a Q2 miss on margin/FCF would strain credibility on the full-year bridge, while a beat + guidance affirmation (or raise) would be a meaningful positive.

Stock/positioning context

LMT closed ~$514 (July 22, 2026). It has been a round trip: +25% off last year's post-charge low, but roughly flat YTD (+3.5%) and down ~24% from its early-March 2026 high near $677.
Relative to peers over the past year, LMT (+25%) has lagged RTX (+31%) and roughly matched GD (+25%), while beating NOC (−7%).
The setup implies the market is skeptical on execution despite a booming demand environment — meaning the reaction likely hinges on margins/FCF and the absence of charges more than the top line.

Checklist for the print

Any new program charges (classified Aero/MFC, Sikorsky international helos)? — the swing factor.
Segment margins — recovery off Q1's 10.1%, especially Aeronautics (F-16/C-130 clean-up) and RMS.
Free cash flow — does it turn positive and support the back-half-loaded full-year bridge?
Full-year guidance — reaffirm/raise/trim, and confidence in the top end of FCF.
Bookings/backlog — THAAD (~$35B) and PAC-3 flowing through; book-to-bill.
Munitions ramp progress — PAC-3/THAAD/PrSM rate milestones, supply-chain pinch points (solid rocket motors, seekers), and PAC-3 ACE.
Ultra Maritime — timing, financing, accretion, and implications for buybacks.
F-35 — deliveries, sustainment, and FY27 budget follow-through.

One housekeeping note: the company's own July 1 webcast release lists Jim Taiclet (Chairman, President & CEO), CFO Evan Scott, and IR head Mark Kvasnak as hosting the call; a July 20 CNBC segment referred to Frank St. John with a "CEO" label — worth confirming any leadership/title nuance, but the earnings call is set to be led by Taiclet and Scott.

Sources: LMT Q1 2026 and Q2 2025 earnings releases and Q1 2026 earnings call transcript; company press releases; and July 2026 news coverage (WSJ, Reuters, Axios, CNBC, FT). Figures are as reported by the company and consensus estimates as summarized in pre-earnings coverage; verify against the actual release.