Lockheed Martin shares gain for a fourth straight session on Thursday, F-35 jet delivery pause confirmed by US Defense Department

The US Department of Defense was reported to have suspended F-35 jet deliveries from Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) due to a contractual dispute related to a production issue fix.

Lockheed Martin shares closed higher for a fourth consecutive trading session on Thursday. The stock went up 1.01% ($3.44) to $342.88, with the intraday high and the intraday low being at $344.45 and $340.53 respectively.

In the week ended on April 8th the shares of the global security and aerospace company lost 0.97% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the fifth drop out of seven weeks.

However, due to the recent streak of gains, the stock has neutralized earlier loss and is now up 1.46% so far during the current month, following a 4.12% slump in March. The latter has been the steepest monthly retreat since December 2016.

For the entire past year, Lockheed Martin shares rose 28.45% following another 15.10% surge in 2016.

“F-35 deliveries have been temporarily paused while the government and Lockheed Martin reach an agreement on a contractual issue regarding repair work to remediate the known aircraft fastener hole primer quality escape”, the US Defense Department said in a statement, cited by Reuters.

“This is not a safety of flight issue but rather a contractual resourcing issue that needs to be resolved. The government has implemented this pause to ensure the warfighter receives a quality product from industry”, the Pentagon said.

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program accounts for almost 25% of its total revenue, while a delivery suspension by the Pentagon may raise concerns over whether Lockheeds foreign clients will be affected as well.

According to CNN Money, the 20 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Lockheed Martin’s stock price, have a median target of $382.50, with a high estimate of $457.00 and a low estimate of $300.00. The median estimate is a 11.56% surge compared to the closing price of $342.88 on April 12th.

The same media also reported that 14 out of 24 surveyed investment analysts had rated Lockheed Martin Corporation’s stock as “Hold”, while 9 – as “Buy”.

Daily and Weekly Pivot Levels

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

R1 – $343.24
R2 – $343.60
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $343.96
R4 (Long Breakout) – $345.04
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $346.30
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $346.83

S1 – $342.52
S2 – $342.16
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $341.80
S4 (Short Breakout) – $340.72
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $339.46
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $338.93

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

Central Pivot Point – $336.36
R1 – $345.23
R2 – $355.79
R3 – $364.66
R4 – $373.52

S1 – $325.80
S2 – $316.93
S3 – $306.37
S4 – $295.80