In the past five trading sessions, a handful of key defense players reported results, displaying a mixed quarterly performance. So, the overall impact of quarterly results on the bourses was not very impressive. Consequently, the S&P 500 Aerospace & Defense (Industry) index dropped 1.7%, while the Dow Jones U.S. Aerospace & Defense index went down 2.2% in the trailing five trading sessions.

In the past week, Lockheed Martin (LMT Quick QuoteLMT - Free Report) , Raytheon Technologies (RTX Quick QuoteRTX - Free Report) , The Boeing Company (BA Quick QuoteBA - Free Report) , General Dynamics (GD Quick QuoteGD - Free Report) and Textron Inc. (TXT Quick QuoteTXT - Free Report) reported Q4 results.

Recap of Past Week’s Important Stories

1.    Lockheed Martin reported fourth-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings of $7.24 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.1%. Its net sales amounted to $17.73 billion, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.4%.

Lockheed Martin ended 2021 (on Dec 31, 2021) with $135.36 billion in backlog compared with $147.13 billion at the end of 2020.

Cash from operations at the end of 2021 amounted to $9.22 billion compared with $8.18 billion a year ago (read more: Lockheed Martin Q4 Earnings Top Estimates, Sales Rise Y/Y).

2.    Raytheon Technologies’ fourth-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.08 beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.01 by 6.9%. Its sales of $17,044 million missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $17,215 million by 1%.

The company generated an operating profit of $1,320 million compared with $142 million in the year-ago quarter.

Raytheon Technologies had cash and cash equivalents of $7,832 million as of Dec 31, 2021, compared with $8,802 million as of Dec 31, 2020 (read more: Raytheon Technologies Q4 Earnings Top, Sales Miss).

3.    Boeing incurred an adjusted loss of $7.69 per share for fourth-quarter 2021, much wider than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 9 cents. Its revenues amounted to $14.79 billion, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.8%.

Backlog at the end of fourth-quarter 2021 increased to $377.50 billion from $363.40 billion at the end of 2020.

Boeing exited 2021 with cash and cash equivalents of $8.05 billion, and short-term and other investments of $8.19 billion (read more: Boeing Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Decline Y/Y).

4.    General Dynamics reported fourth-quarter 2021 earnings from continuing operations of $3.39 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.6%. Its fourth-quarter revenues of $10,292 million missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.8%.

General Dynamics recorded a total backlog of $87.6 billion, down 2.1% year over year.

In 2021, the company generated cash from operating activities of $4,271 million compared with $3,858 million generated in the year-ago period (read more: General Dynamics' Q4 Earnings Beat Estimates, Sales Lag).

5.    Textron reported fourth-quarter 2021 adjusted earnings of 94 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.1%. Its revenues came in at $3,322 million, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3,373 million by 1.5%.

As of Jan 1, 2022, cash and cash equivalents totaled $1,922 million compared with $2,146 million as of Jan 2, 2021.

Textron expects to generate adjusted earnings in the range of $3.80-4.00 per share in 2022 on revenues of $13.3 billion (read more: Textron Q4 Earnings Lag Estimates, Revenues Fall Y/Y).

Performance

Over the past five trading sessions, the defense biggies put up a mixed show. While Lockheed and Boeing lost, General Dynamics and Raytheon gained.

In the last six months, the industry's performance was impressive, except for Boeing and Textron. General Dynamics gained the most with its shares up 8.2%, followed by Lockheed, which gained 4.7%.

The following table shows the price movement of the major defense players over the past five trading days and during the last six months.