Stocks: (BA)(LMT)(NOC)Investors in defense stocks are shaking in their boots. The concern is that the Democrats who know control both houses of Congress will cut weapons spending and bring back American troops from Iraq. The media has been quick to flag concerns that investors in companies like Lockheed Martin could get hurt.But, fear not. From September 2005 to September 2006, sales agreements with foreign military interests hit $21 billion. That is more than double what it was a year ago. Considering that Lockheed Martin’s total revenue last year was just above $37 billion, and it puts the number in some context. Pakistan place a $5 billion order recently for Lockheed F-16 jets. That’s just one product from one company.Canada and Australia recently ordered C-17 cargo planes from Boeing.There have been bans on selling arms to some overseas countries, but many of those have been lifed. Lockheed, Northrup Grumman, and Boeing will probably benefit from a rise in orders next year that could easily exceed the $21 billion figure for the twelve months ending in September.Lockheed’s stock traded down right after the election.Not to worry.Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
As Democrats Attack Defense Spending, Warmongers Make Up The Difference
Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.
McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.
His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.
A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.
TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.
McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.
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