Lockheed Martin shares gain an 11th straight session on Thursday, F-35 cost said to decrease 16%

According to an official from the US Department of Defense, Lockheed Martins F-35 fighter jet could cost 16% less to approximately $80 million in the future. This new estimate was provided by Lieutenant General Chris Bogdan, the person in charge of the F-35 program for the Department, during a hearing in front of the US House of Representatives on February 16th.

Lockheed Martin shares closed higher for an eleventh straight trading session on Thursday, or the longest streak in at least three years. The stock went up 0.71% ($1.87) to $265.33, after touching an intraday high of $265.40, or a level not seen since December 8th 2016 ($266.38). In the week ended on February 12th the shares of the global security and aerospace company added 2.39% to their market value compared to a week ago, which marked a second consecutive period of gains and also the best performance since the week ended on January 8th. The stock has extended its advance to 5.57% 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%.

In early February, it became clear that the terms of the deal for the tenth lot of the fighter jet envisaged 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, in cooperation with its main partners, has been constructing and enhancing the F-35 model for the US military and ten allied nations.

The fighter jet is offered in three configurations: an A-model used by the US Air Force and by American allies, a B-model used by the Marine Corps and the British navy, and a carrier-version, or F-35C.

The cost per jet has been gradually shrinking amid rising production.

According to Reuters, the Department of Defense intends to spend as much as $391 billion over a number of years in order to develop and purchase 2 443 of these war jets.

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 – $265.57
R2 – $265.82
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $266.06
R4 (Long Breakout) – $266.80
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $267.66
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $268.03

S1 – $265.09
S2 – $264.84
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $264.60
S4 (Short Breakout) – $263.86
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $263.00
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $262.63

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

Central Pivot Point – $258.53
R1 – $262.94
R2 – $265.34
R3 – $269.75
R4 – $274.17

S1 – $256.13
S2 – $251.72
S3 – $249.32
S4 – $246.93