NEW YORK, January 9, 2026, 12:10 EST — Regular session
Lockheed Martin shares climbed 4.2% to $539.96 on Friday, bouncing between $523.27 and $543.00 early in New York as defense names stayed volatile on fresh White House pressure over contractor payouts.
Shares moved as U.S. defense contractors started seeking legal advice after President Donald Trump signed an executive order linking dividends, share buybacks and executive pay to weapons delivery schedules, sources told Reuters. Morgan Stanley analyst Kristine Liwag described the policy mix as “carrots and sticks,” while a federal contracting lawyer said companies could face pressure as the administration looks to “crack the whip.” Reuters
Investors have also been weighing Trump’s call for a 2027 U.S. military budget of $1.5 trillion, well above the $901 billion approved for 2026, a position that helped lift defense stocks this week. RBC Capital Markets analysts said there was “significant uncertainty” around any final defense budget outcome. Reuters
The executive order matters for Lockheed because the company has leaned hard on shareholder returns. It paid about $2.3 billion in dividends in 2025 and bought back about $2.3 billion of stock, with $9.1 billion still authorized for repurchases, Reuters reported. Any slowdown in payouts can hit the equity story quickly.
Defense stocks jumped on Thursday after Trump’s budget comments, with Lockheed up 4.3% in that session. The stock had slid a day earlier after Trump threatened to block dividends and buybacks until contractors speed up production.
Stocks found a bid Friday after a softer-than-expected December jobs report helped keep expectations for U.S. rate cuts in place, with traders pricing about 54 basis points of easing in 2026 — or roughly 0.54 percentage points. U.S. payrolls rose 50,000 in December and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4%, Reuters reported.
Even so, it’s not hard to map out the downside: no one really knows when — or even if — the order can be enforced, legal challenges could bog it down, and speeding up deliveries risks squeezing costs and margins even with better topline demand. The budget effort, for its part, still has to make it through Congress.
Lockheed reports quarterly results on Jan. 29. Investors will be looking for its 2026 outlook, cash-return plans and any color on how it plans to run under the new payout rules. A Zacks note published by Nasdaq said the company is slated to post earnings per share — a profit measure — of $6.33 on revenue of $19.72 billion.
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