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Lockheed Wins $297M Contract to Build GeoXO LMX Instruments

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Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT - Free Report) recently announced that it clinched a contract worth $297 million from NASA to design and construct next-generation GeoXO Lightning Mapper (“LMX”) instruments. The instrument will be delivered to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (“NOAA”).

Per the terms of the deal, Lockheed will build two LMX instruments, with options for two additional instruments. The work related to this contract will be carried out in Lockheed Martin’s facility in Sunnyvale, CA.

A Brief Note on LMT’s GeoXO Lightning Mapper
 

The LMX is a single-channel, near-infrared optical instrument designed to detect, identify and quantify the intensity, duration and extent of lightning flashes in near-real time. The LMX instrument detects and monitors lightning strikes while aboard NOAA's next-generation GeoXO weather satellites. This new mapper will enhance storm research and forecast and assist in the discovery of tornado-producing storms for public safety.

The imagers aid in hurricane strength forecast, lightning hazard identification, wildfire ignition detection and aviation threat avoidance.

What’s Favoring Lockheed?
 

Diverse industries across the board are now utilizing GEO satellites in multiple applications, such as agriculture, transportation, disaster management and climate research, in addition to their traditional usage in defense and space industries, resulting in solid growth in demand for technologically advanced GEO satellites.

This must have prompted the Mordor Intelligence firm to expect the GEO Satellite market to witness a CAGR of 3.7% over the 2024-2029 period. Such a growth opportunity offered by the global GEO Satellite market should bode well for LMT.

Lockheed Martin works together with NASA, NOAA and other government organizations to provide cutting-edge satellite solutions for missions involving Earth observation. The company has built more than 120 weather and environmental spacecraft for the U.S. government over the past 50 years.

Along with the GeoXO Lightning Mapper, Lockheed Martin offers a broader variety of GEO satellites in its product line.  LMT’s GOES-R satellite series provides vital atmospheric, hydrologic, oceanic, climatic, solar and space data, improving the identification and monitoring of environmental events.

Given the growth of the GEO satellite market, LMT's recent contract win is indicative of the high demand the company enjoys in this industry and suggests that there may be more such order flows in the near future.

Prospects of LMT’s Peers
 

The growing GEO satellite market also provides growth opportunities to other aerospace players like Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC - Free Report) , The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report) and Airbus Group (EADSY - Free Report) , which hold a strong presence in this space.

Northrop Grumman's experience in satellite systems and payloads has helped build sophisticated weather monitoring capabilities. The company-built JPSS-2 satellite provides meteorological data and observations to enhance the prediction and preparation for extreme weather conditions and observe long-term climate trends.

Northrop Grumman boasts a long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate of 8.7%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NOC’s 2024 sales implies an improvement of 5.4% from the prior-year reported figure.

Over the years, Boeing has produced many noteworthy GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) satellite products that have served a variety of government, broadcasting and communication purposes. Its flagship model, 702 series GEO satellites, can operate in the geosynchronous, medium-Earth or low-Earth orbital planes.

Boeing has a long-term earnings growth rate of 21.3%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 sales indicates an improvement of 20.4% from the 2024 estimated figure.

Airbus has delivered more than 110 geo satellites to more than 60 nations to date. Its MetOp-SG twins A and B satellites are designed to enhance environmental research, monitoring climate change and weather forecasting.

Airbus’ long-term earnings growth rate is 11.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EADSY’s 2024 sales calls for an improvement of 5.4% from the prior-year reported figure.

LMT Stock Price Movement
 

In the past three months, shares of Lockheed Martin have rallied 21.2% compared with the industry’s rise of 4.7%.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

LMT’s Zacks Rank
 

Lockheed Martin currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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