Lockheed Martin Q2 2026 Earnings Beat, $230B Backlog

Lockheed Martin reported a dramatic financial turnaround for the second quarter of 2026, posting net earnings of $1.8 billion on sales of $20.1 billion, a sharp reversal from the $342 million profit recorded a year earlier. The results, released on July 23, 2026, significantly exceeded analyst expectations and were accompanied by a record-breaking backlog of $230 billion, signaling robust future demand for the defense contractor's products.

The company's sales grew 11% year-over-year, with all four of its main business divisions contributing to the increase. The strong performance was partly due to the absence of $1.6 billion in program losses that had weighed down the second quarter of 2025. Those losses stemmed from a classified program in the Aeronautics division and cost overruns on helicopter programs for Canada and Turkey within the Rotary and Mission Systems segment. With those charges not repeating, consolidated operating profit more than tripled to $2.5 billion, and free cash flow swung to a positive $2.9 billion from a negative $150 million a year ago.

A key driver of the company's outlook is its unprecedented backlog, which grew from $186 billion at the end of the...