An analyst's price target bump was the news pushing shares of storied defense company Lockheed Martin (LMT 1.88%) skyward as the trading week came to an end. The stock ended the day nearly 3% higher, easily topping the less-than-0.6% increase of the bellwether S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.67%) on the day.
Becoming $8 more bullish
Well before the market open, Matthew Akers of influential "big four" U.S. bank Wells Fargo raised his price target on Lockheed Martin to $476 per share, up from his previous $468. That wasn't enough to push his recommendation into bull territory, as he maintained his equal weight (read: hold) recommendation on the stock.
According to reports, Akers' modification stems from interest in U.S. defense stocks from abroad. While this is currently muted, it should rise once the funding situation for the industry becomes more clear.
Currently, through the leadership of the recently created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Trump administration has made moves to cut staffing and budgets at various federal agencies. These have been met with controversy, and in recent days the president has clearly attempted to impose some restraint on this work.
Nevertheless, it has created a level of uncertainty with enterprises that conduct business with the federal government. The defense and aerospace industries are particularly involved in this way, due in no small part to their military contracting.
NYSE: LMT
Key Data Points
A time of uncertainty
I feel investors are right to be hesitant about the U.S. defense business just now, or really any industry or company that's reliant on the federal government as clients. DOGE's work is far from over, it seems, and at this point it's still somewhat unclear how deep its cuts will be at the various agencies.
