Lockheed Martin shares gain a second straight session on Friday, company reveals an $8.5 billion agreement with the US Defense Department

On February 3rd Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) said it had reached an agreement with the US Department of Defense regarding an $8.5 billion order of 90 F-35 aircraft. The terms of the deal for the tenth lot of the fighter jet envisage a price lower than $95 million per unit for the first time ever. In comparison, the prior aircraft lot cost $102 million per jet.

Lockheed Martin shares closed higher for a second straight trading session on Friday, while also marking their largest daily gain since January 26th. The stock went up 0.99% ($2.49) to $254.46, also the session’s high and a level not seen since January 27th ($259.12). In the week ended on February 5th the shares of the global security and aerospace company added 0.38% to their market value compared to a week ago, which, however, has been the smallest gain since the week ended on January 1st. The stock has extended its advance to 1.25% so far during the current month, following a 0.56% increase in January. The latter has been the smallest monthly gain in at least two years. For the entire 2016, Lockheed Martin shares gained 15.10%.

According to Lockheeds statement, “President Trumps personal involvement in the F-35 program accelerated the negotiations and sharpened our focus on driving down the price.”

In December, Air Force Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, the person in charge of the F-35 program for the Defense Department, said that the cost per jet for the latest lot should drop by about “6 to 7 percent”. In its Friday statement, Lockheed Martin noted that the price of the F-35 A conventional takeoff and landing variation of the fighter jet had fallen 7.3% since the preceding order.

The cost per jet has been gradually shrinking amid rising production. According to Reuters, the discount heralded by President Donald Trump was in unison with the amount that had been projected by Lockheed Martin and US Defense Department officials for some time.

“The increase in the number of aircraft in this agreement enables us to reduce costs by taking advantage of economies of scale and production efficiencies”, the aerospace company said, cited by the same media.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

With the help of the Camarilla calculation method, todays levels of importance for the Lockheed Martin stock are presented as follows:

R1 – $254.91
R2 – $255.37
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $255.82
R4 (Long Breakout) – $257.19
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $258.78
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $259.48

S1 – $254.01
S2 – $253.55
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $253.10
S4 (Short Breakout) – $251.73
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $250.14
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $249.44

By using the traditional method of calculation, the weekly levels of importance for Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) are presented as follows:

Central Pivot Point – $253.63
R1 – $257.29
R2 – $260.13
R3 – $263.79
R4 – $267.46

S1 – $250.79
S2 – $247.13
S3 – $244.29
S4 – $241.46