Defense Companies Earnings are Coming In

It had been hoped that defense companies might not be mirroring the rest of the economy due to the size of the U.S. defense budget and the contuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lockheed Martin reported yesterday and they actually beat the estimates. The New York Times reports though that the company expects not to have as good a year as once thought. The company made a profit of $2.05 a share last quarter but said that higher then anticipated pension costs will weigh on earnings for the rest of the year. Northrop Grumman warned according to the Los Angeles Times that writing down costs related to previous acquisitions will cause a loss for the fourth quarter and the year. Even though current operations are profitable the company must write down the value of the TRW and Litton acquisitions. Raytheon will report on January 29th and it will be interesting to see what they say.