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Lockheed 4Q profit down
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January 28, 2000: 11:12 a.m. ET
Troubled aerospace concern lowers some earnings forecasts ahead
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Troubled aerospace and defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. posted Friday a fourth-quarter earnings drop of 20 percent, meeting lowered profit forecasts, and also announced lowered earnings forecasts ahead.
In the fourth quarter, the Bethesda, Md,-based company posted earnings of $227 million, or 59 cents a share, including one-time items, in line with expectations of analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call Corp. For the year-earlier quarter the company earned $285 million, or 75 cents a diluted share. Quarterly revenue fell to $7 billion from $7.2 billion in the year-earlier quarter.
During the past year, the company had been lowering estimates or missing earnings forecasts, and on Friday said that although it will meet full-year 2000 estimates of $1 a share, its first-half per-share figures will fail to meet expectations.
The company said 2000 earnings will be back-loaded, with earnings of only 5 to 15 cents a share in the first quarter, 15 to 25 cents in the second quarter, 20 to 30 cents in the third quarter and 40 to 50 cents in the fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by First Call had been expecting a far more even distribution of 2000 earnings between quarters. Lockheed blamed the later distribution of profits to timing of space launches, aircraft deliveries and investment in new products.
After 2000, the company said it believes it can increase earnings per share by 15 to 25 percent annually, with the year 2001 coming at the lower end of the range. Analysts surveyed by First Call had predicted earnings of $1.31 a diluted share in 2001, rather than the company's forecast of about $1.15 a share.
For the 1999 year, the company earned $575 million, or $1.50 a diluted share, excluding one-time items, compared with $1.1 billion, or $2.99 a share, in 1998. Including one-time items, the company earned $382 million, or 99 cents a diluted share, compared with $1 billion, or $2.63 a diluted share, in 1998. Revenue for the year fell to $25.5 billion from $26.3 billion in 1998.
Lockheed (LMT: Research, Estimates), the second largest aerospace and defense concern after Boeing Co. (BA: Research, Estimates), Thursday announced plans to cut 2,800 jobs, or 2 percent of its aeronautical systems and space businesses workforce.
The company also announced a 50 percent cut in its quarterly dividend to 11 cents a share, payable in March.
"Consistent with our previously announced focus on reducing debt, it is prudent to change the dividend at this time," said Vance Coffman, the company's chairman and chief executive.
Shares of Lockheed fell 3/4 to 18-11/16 in early Friday trading. 
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Lockheed Martin
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