Lockheed Martin shares fall for a second session in a row on Wednesday, F-35 jet deliveries postponed for 30 days

Deliveries of Lockheed Martins F-35 fighter jets were reported to have been postponed for 30 days by the Pentagon due to the discovery of corrosion around fasteners.

Lockheed Martin shares closed lower for a second consecutive trading session on Wednesday. The stock went down 0.51% ($1.56) to $306.60, after touching an intraday low at $306.50, or a price level not seen since October 26th ($303.31).

In the week ended on October 29th the shares of the global security and aerospace company lost 3.75% of their market value compared to a week ago, which marked the first drop out of six weeks and also the steepest one since the week ended on November 6th 2016.

The stock has retreated 0.51% so far during the current month, following a 0.69% drop in October. The latter has been the first monthly loss since June.

For the entire past year, Lockheed Martin shares gained 15.10%. The stock has advanced another 22.67% so far in 2017.

While this issue “needs be corrected to prevent potential future corrosion, it does not pose a safety of flight risk to the F-35 fleet or affect current operations”, the Department of Defense said in a statement.

According to Lockheed Martin, an investigation of the extent of the corrosion is underway, with over 250 fighter jets deployed to the US military and the US allies being under scrutiny.

The delivery halt will probably not affect the Pentagons objective to obtain 66 aircraft this year.

In 2016, 46 fighter jets were delivered by Lockheed.

According to CNN Money, the 21 analysts, offering 12-month forecasts regarding Lockheed Martin’s stock price, have a median target of $321.00, with a high estimate of $350.00 and a low estimate of $265.00. The median estimate is a 4.70% surge compared to the closing price of $306.60 on November 1st.

The same media also reported that 13 out of 24 surveyed investment analysts had rated Lockheed Martin Corporation’s stock as “Hold”, while 10 – 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 – $306.89
R2 – $307.17
R3 (Range Resistance – Sell) – $307.46
R4 (Long Breakout) – $308.32
R5 (Breakout Target 1) – $309.32
R6 (Breakout Target 2) – $309.72

S1 – $306.31
S2 – $306.03
S3 (Range Support – Buy) – $305.74
S4 (Short Breakout) – $304.88
S5 (Breakout Target 1) – $303.88
S6 (Breakout Target 2) – $303.48

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

Central Pivot Point – $310.96
R1 – $318.60
R2 – $329.21
R3 – $336.85
R4 – $344.50

S1 – $300.35
S2 – $292.71
S3 – $282.10
S4 – $271.50