Based on the aggregated intelligence of 170,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, defense contracting giant Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) has earned a respected four-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Lockheed's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Lockheed facts

Headquarters (Founded) Bethesda, Md. (1909)
Market Cap $25.5 billion
Industry Aerospace and defense
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $46.41 billion
Management CEO Robert Stevens (since 2004)
CFO Bruce Tanner (since 2007)
Return on Capital (Average, Past 3 Years) 27.1%
Cash/Debt $3.42 billion / $5.02 billion
Competitors Boeing (NYSE: BA)
Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC)
General Dynamics (NYSE: GD)

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 95% of the 1,692 members who have rated Lockheed believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bulls include All-Stars TMFDeej and sandvig, both of whom are ranked in the top 1% of our community.

Just two days ago, TMFDeej tapped the stock as a great way to get defensive: "I realize that Lockheed Martin's earnings aren't about to grow any time soon, but this is one cheap stock. It trades at less than 10 times trailing earnings and has a new, improved dividend yield of 4.2%."

Lockheed's dominant position in next-gen defense platforms, solid balance sheet, and cheapish valuation support its four-star CAPS status. In fact, Lockheed currently sports a higher dividend yield than defense foes Boeing (2.4%), Northrop (3.1%), General Dynamics (2.6%), and Honeywell (NYSE: HON). With as many positives as CAPS All-Star sandvig lists, Lockheed might be an income opportunity that's too good to pass up:

Its [ROE] exceeds 25%.
It pays an attractive dividend.
It is priced near the low end of a 52 week range.
Its principal customer prints the money.

It seems to me that there must be a large inertia factor in advanced weapons systems, products, and services. I would think that one does not casually drop a weapons defense system or plan.

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